XXXXX of Nigeria and YYYYY of Japan ZZZZZ during Men's Group B match between Nigeria and Japan on Day 2 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 10, 2008 in Tianjin, China.
Argentina do not have a manager and they are trying to convince Lionel Messi to come back to the national team. Juan Roman Riquelme's solution? Let Messi pick the new manager.
"In my humble opinion, they should ask Messi who he wants as coach of Argentina," Riquelme told Los Intrusos. "The coach should put the team together with Messi, make sure he his happy because he is the only one who can lead us to victory."
Riquelme played for the national team with Messi and has never been shy about his admiration for the superstar. Ever since Messi announced he would be retiring from international soccer after the Copa Ameirca Centenario final, Riquelme has joined the chorus of Argentines begging Messi to reconsider.
The problem right now is that the entire Argentina federation is a mess. They are being run by a FIFA commission because they were so corrupt and incompetent, have no money and there's no clear direction for them as they try to hire a new manager.
Riquelme's suggestion that Messi get to choose the new manager isn't so much about the federation's problems. It's all about Messi and how important he is. Riquelme thinks that Messi should have even more power than simply picking the new boss,
"The coach should even be asking him who he [Messi] wants on the team," said Riquelme. "The issue here is that he must feel at home. The more comfortable he feels, the bigger lead he will give us and that will be better for the team. This is the national team of Argentina we are talking about here, not a club that plays on Sundays. Here they will just have three days to prepare. He must feel comfortable because we don't have a lot of time to prepare.
"This is not like a club where the coach has a lot of time and power to watch the players and evaluate and convince them," he said.
It's all Messi everything. And that's not a terrible strategy considering, well, he's Messi.
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