Argentine assistant wants Maradona to stay

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — One of Diego Maradona's assistants wants him to stay, and a top Argentine football official said the job is his despite the team's devastating 4-0 loss against Germany in the World Cup quarterfinals.

Assistant coach Alejandro Mancuso offered his support to Maradona in a radio interview on Monday, saying the national team's staff wanted him to return.

"Knowing Diego, it is difficult for me to think he wants to step down after failing in his objective to win the cup," Mancuso said. "We can't throw away all the good work we've done."

Maradona has not made his plans clear following Argentina's second straight loss to Germany in a World Cup quarterfinal, but talked of "the end of a cycle" when the squad returned home from South Africa following Saturday's game.

Cronica newspaper on Monday quoted Maradona as saying: "I gave all I had. Now I want to enjoy my family. Don't worry, I'm not depressed."

Luis Segura, a senior official with the Argentine Football Association, said Maradona's contract has a clause that triggers an automatic extension through to the Copa America, which Argentina hosts next year. Segura said it is up to Maradona to decide what he will do.

"The one who will have to decide to continue or not is Maradona," Segura said.

Argentina President Cristina Fernandez offered encouragement while speaking Monday in Buenos Aires.

"Bear up Maradona, the team and also bear up Argentina," Fernandez said. "No Argentine has ever given so much joy on the field as Diego Armando Maradona."

Fernandez also invited the team to the Casa Rosada, the president's official offices.

"We are proud of what they did and we are finished crying because we've begun to prepare for 2014," she said.

Notes

• Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan has dropped a threat to suspend the national soccer team from playing for two years because of its poor World Cup showing and corruption allegations.

In a statement, Jonathan's office said the decision came after a meeting Monday with the Nigeria Football Federation. The federation's executive committee fired the group's president and vice president Sunday in an effort to appease the government.

The federation "assured the president of their commitment" to building a national soccer program "that will bring glory, rather than consistent embarrassment to Nigeria on the world stage," the statement read.

• Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas is ready to play in Wednesday's World Cup semifinal match against Germany despite continuing pain in his shoulder. Fabregas told Spanish media he may need a painkilling injection into his shoulder so he can be available for the semifinal at Durban's Moses Mabhida Stadium.

• Coach Gerardo Martino is leaving the Paraguay national team and striker Roque Santa Cruz says this was his last World Cup.

• The Uruguayan linesman who failed to see that a shot from England midfielder Frank Lampard crossed the goal line against Germany says the error was "unfortunate" but that's the way it goes.

"These are things that can happen in football," Mauricio Espinosa was quoted Monday in the Uruguayan newspaper El Pais. Germany beat England 4-1, but was up just 2-1 at the time of the mistake.