Former Argentina midfielder Ossie Ardiles has praised the appointment of Diego Maradona as coach of the national team but warned that the new man "needs help" in his quest.
The resignation of Alfio Basile last month prompted the Argentina Football Association to replace him with the legendary South American, with the decision causing plenty of debate, especially regarding a lack of coaching experience.
However, Ardiles is sure he can do a good job, starting by helping the national team qualify for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.
"I am very positive about the appointment," he said. "I believe that he could give the players the inclination, the need to start performing, to qualify and then win the World Cup.
"Maradona is a completely different character, not a typical coach by any means. But in Argentina, he is an incredible legend and because of that, the current team, a very young squad, will respond to him.
"I believe that because of this Argentina has a great chance to win the next World Cup.
"I think he can be a success. I'm very positive and from my point of view, I'm happy with this appointment."
But Ardiles has warned that in order to succeed, Maradona would have to learn from his past and work with the right company.
"Will he appoint the right people? Big, big question mark. He needs help, because in the past he has been surrounded by certain amount of people that were not the best. There is hope he can learn from these very bad experiences and choose the right people. I think this is absolutely crucial.
"I don't think he could be a manager of a club, day-in and day-out I just don't think he can do it. But I do know in the national team it's completely different, you don't have the player to work with all the time, you only have them for very little time.
"In fact the training you do with them is just one or two days before a game - very, very little."
After a strong start to their qualifying campaign for the World Cup, the two-time champions have struggled in recent matches slipping to third in the CONMEBOL region.
And Ardiles feels that Maradona has the ability to turn around their fortunes.
He added: "I believe that the Argentina national team has lost its way lately, the last four or five games. So much so that somehow four or five games before, Argentina was already qualified, but now it's an open question.
"Basically his job is to inspire, that's all he can do. And I believe in the long term, he's not going to work, but in the short term it could and Argentina's quest is to win the World Cup. That's it."
However, Ardiles is sure he can do a good job, starting by helping the national team qualify for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.
"I am very positive about the appointment," he said. "I believe that he could give the players the inclination, the need to start performing, to qualify and then win the World Cup.
"Maradona is a completely different character, not a typical coach by any means. But in Argentina, he is an incredible legend and because of that, the current team, a very young squad, will respond to him.
"I believe that because of this Argentina has a great chance to win the next World Cup.
"I think he can be a success. I'm very positive and from my point of view, I'm happy with this appointment."
But Ardiles has warned that in order to succeed, Maradona would have to learn from his past and work with the right company.
"Will he appoint the right people? Big, big question mark. He needs help, because in the past he has been surrounded by certain amount of people that were not the best. There is hope he can learn from these very bad experiences and choose the right people. I think this is absolutely crucial.
"I don't think he could be a manager of a club, day-in and day-out I just don't think he can do it. But I do know in the national team it's completely different, you don't have the player to work with all the time, you only have them for very little time.
"In fact the training you do with them is just one or two days before a game - very, very little."
After a strong start to their qualifying campaign for the World Cup, the two-time champions have struggled in recent matches slipping to third in the CONMEBOL region.
And Ardiles feels that Maradona has the ability to turn around their fortunes.
He added: "I believe that the Argentina national team has lost its way lately, the last four or five games. So much so that somehow four or five games before, Argentina was already qualified, but now it's an open question.
"Basically his job is to inspire, that's all he can do. And I believe in the long term, he's not going to work, but in the short term it could and Argentina's quest is to win the World Cup. That's it."
Copyright (c) Press Association
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