Argentina Boss Diego Maradona: I'm Proud Of My Players

Despite a frustrating defeat, 'El Diego' believes his players put on a good performance...

Jun 11, 2009 6:01:55 AM

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Diego Maradona - Argentina (Mexsport)

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Diego Maradona, the coach of the Argentine national team, repeated that he was "proud" of his players, but that he was disappointed that they couldn't take advantage of the opportunities they created against Ecuador.

Argentina suffered another frustrating defeat at high altitude, this time 2-0 in Quito at the Olimpico Atahualpa stadium.

"How to explain it? Tactically and mentally we had the game controlled. But football is like this, when you fail to take advantage of your opportunities you receive them in your own net," said Maradona.

"We studied Ecuador for a long time and we knew what they had to offer. We didn't let them work down the flanks. We made life difficult for them with Carlitos [Tevez], with Jonas [Gutierrez] and Leo [Messi], with Maxi [Rodriguez], but we missed the penalty and the other chances we created."

Maradona explained that he was happy with the display of his players, but nevertheless that it was a defeat and now they have to concentrate on their upcoming clash with arch-rivals Brazil in September.

He said, "We are looking ahead to Brazil, this is our objective. If we had scored against Ecuador the match would have been over. They would have had to come out of their shells. But as we didn't score, and we missed the penalty and other opportunities, they scored and the match finished this way."

The 1986 World Cup winner knows that the fans will demand a victory against Brazil when the teams meet in Buenos Aires, and he is confident that his players will perform on the night.

Maradona added, "It will be a nice match to play, it is the match that everyone wants to play, Brazil are our biggest rivals, they are the team who always get the better of us."

Gregory Sica, Goal.com

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