Diego Maradonna and all his sideline theatrics in the 2010 World Cup has resigned as Argentina's coach claiming that he was wronged by the Argentinean Football Association (AFA)

By Kelvin Goh Wong

A livid Maradona said in a recent interview that he was "lied to" and betrayed by AFA president Julio Grondona and director of national teams Carlos Bilardo.

Maradonna was instructed to replace many of his backroom staff if he wanted to continue to coach - a demand that he will not tolerate.

Though it is true that Argentina's performance wasn't all that atrocious (well compared to France, Italy and England), his over-reliance on Lionel Messi and his player selections has probably raised a few eyebrows.

Argentina went into the World Cup without a single full-back in their line-up. They were a team solely built to attack and yet there was only one game in which they scored by a margin of three or more goals.

In their loss to Germany, the Germans, who are usually known to play solid holding football, beat the South Americans at their own game, scoring on the counter-attack.

The Germans used their speed to out-run a sorely lacking Argentinean defence and crowding their star-player, Lionel Messi. In fact Messi looked like he had two German defenders on him at all times. 

So is it truly unreasonable for the AFA to demand that changes be made to Maradonna's coaching staff?

Perhaps a more balanced mentality is what is needed for Maradonna's regime and perhaps that is what the AFA is looking for, incorporating Maradonna flair in a more stable system.

For example, Uruguay played with Diego Forlan as a focal point but also had a good mix of defence and offence, with Luis Suarez assisting Forlan and finding the back of the net multiple times.

It is that team balance that is missing in Maradonna's term as manager. Maybe "God" didn't help him on this one.