As Coach Argentina keep Batista despite early exit

Argentina said on Monday they would keep Batista on as coach despite their early Copa America exit.

14-time champions lost a quarter-final to Uruguay, now going for a 15th title, on a penalty shootout.

Since Humberto Grondona, sub-director of team affairs at the Argentine Football Association and the son of AFA president Julio Grondona, said the organisation would keep faith in the man who only officially replaced Diego Maradona six months ago.

There will be no “brusque changes – we never thought of going down that road,” said Humberto Grondona in an interview with Radio La Red.

“The technical staff have to have sufficient wisdom to draw conclusions” from the Copa failure to end a trophy drought stretching back to 1993.

“The future lies before us – the qualifiers (for the 2014 World Cup),” he added.

Grondona has been vilified in the press Conference for not seeming to know his best team – he chopped and changed after a poor start but still that did not prevent the Uruguay loss when Carlos Tevez missed the decisive spotkick to send the Uruguayans through a semi-final against Peru.

2 goals of Suarez put Uruguay into final

Luis Suarez scored in the 53rd and 58th minutes to lead Uruguay past Peru 2-0 on Tuesday and into the Copa America final.

Uruguay will be looking for a record-15th Copa America title in Sunday's final against either Paraguay or Venezuela, which meet in the other semifinal Wednesday in Mendoza. The final will be played Sunday in Buenos Aires.

Peru, which was the worst team in South American World Cup qualifying just a year ago, has been one of the surprises of the South American championship and has played without its top two forwards Jefferson Farfan and Claudio Pizarro.

Suarez added some spark after a disappointing first half of few chances and little sustained possession.

"first half was tough because we knew Peru would be very defensive," Liverpool striker Suarez said. "We had to try to take advantage of some chance to score. The goal in the first few minutes was a big blow to Peru."

Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez took Suarez off after the two goals, saving him for Sunday.


"That is one thing with Suarez, it is another without him in the final," Tabarez said. "He (Suarez) is a great forward, an elite player among forwards in the world. ... He often determines the outcome as he did today."

Forlan set up the first goal in the 53rd, taking a long, low shot that Peru keeper Raul Fernandez dived to his left to save. But Suarez swarmed on the rebound and sent the ball into the open net from a sharp angle with Fernandez sprawled on the ground.

Suarez struck again five minutes later when he took a pass near midfield that split two defenders, then broke for goal. When Fernandez came out to stop him, he stepped around to his right and rolled the ball into an open net. Peru's Juan Vargas was shown a red card in the 69th minute.

Peru had its best scoring chance in the 84th when Uruguay keeper Muslera leaped high to stop Paolo Guerrero's long shot. The ball slipped from Muslera's hand, but he covered up quickly just inches from the goal line.

Diego Maradona criticized Batista, Grondona for Copa flop

Diego Maradona has condemned the efforts of his successor as Argentina's national team coach, saying if he were Sergio Batista he "would stay home" and not venture outside.

He spoke publicly for the first since Argentina was knocked out of the Copa America quarterfinals, warning in a Tuesday radio interview that Lionel Messi and other top players could get frustrated with losing and stop playing for the national team.

He also criticized Julio Grondona, the president of the Argentine Football Association, blaming him for many the problems that surround Argentina's national team.

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