Friday, 15th August, 2014
New Argentina coach Gerardo Martino has revealed that he wishes to remain in line with the work of his predecessor Alejandro Sabella.
The former Barcelona boss was handed the reins by the Argentinian Football Association (AFA) on Tuesday as he replaced Sabella, who left his post following La Albiceleste’s 1-0 World Cup final defeat to Germany last month.
Martino took charge of Barcelona last summer, but failed to make his mark at the Camp Nou as the Catalan giants won just the Spanish Super Cup in the 2013/14 campaign.
The 51-year-old, who left Barcelona after their final league game of the season, revealed that he wanted to stay away from coaching for a while, but then changed his decision once the AFA came calling.
Martino insisted that he is extremely proud to have been named the new coach of Argentina and explained that he intends to keep up Sabella’s good work.
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"(It is hard) to express how proud I am to be in this position, that the AFA has entrusted such an important job to me", he was quoted as saying by FIFA’s official site.
"From now on, we have to work to keep the team at the standing they have achieved.
"On my return from Barcelona, I had decided to stop for a while. Obviously, the Argentina team is a job that does not come along every day.
“It is an emotional commitment because it is a job desired by all, and it caused me to re-analyse things. Our goal is to remain in line with the work of Alejandro."
Martino’s first game in charge of the South American nation will be a friendly against world champions Germany in Dusseldorf on 3rd September.
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