No new contract for Diego

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP):

Diego Maradona was removed as coach of Argentina's national team yesterday, ending an erratic 21-month stint that mirrored his own long personal history of unpredictable behaviour.

The Argentine Football Associa-tion (AFA) announced that his contract would not be renewed after Maradona had said he would only accept the AFA's offer of a new four-year deal through to the 2014 World Cup if his entire staff also remained.

That was unacceptable to Argen-tine Football Association president Julio Grondona. He had asked for several assistants to be replaced. One of them is Maradona's close friend, Alejandro Mancuso. The federation's executive committee sided with Grondona.

"The full executive committee with a unanimous decision has decided not to renew the contract of Mr Diego Maradona as national team coach," AFA spokesman Ernesto Cherquis Bialo told a news conference.

Estudiantes coach Alejandro Sabella and Racing's Miguel Russo are being mentioned as candidates for the job.

The AFA would likely need to announce an interim coach for the friendly against Ireland on August 11 in Dublin.

Maradona, 49, became Argen-tina's coach in November 2008, replacing Alfio Basile and taking over a team he led to the 1986 World Cup title. His results were mixed.

He had little coaching experience, and the team suffered two of the worst losses in history: a 6-1 hammering at Bolivia in World Cup qualifying, and a 4-0 battering by Germany in the quarter-finals of the World Cup.