Argentina coach Gerardo Martino resigned on Tuesday citing a leadership vacuum at the Argentine FA (AFA) and problems trying to pick an 18-man squad for the Olympic soccer tournament in Rio de Janeiro in August, the AFA said.
Argentina host Chile at the Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires on September 5 before facing Colombia five days later in Barranquilla.
Chinese sporting authorities have cancelled next month's friendly international between Argentina and Nigeria amid a growing backlash against Lionel Messi's failure to play in an Inter Miami match in Hong Kong last week.
Lionel Scaloni picked the same starting line-up from the World Cup final win over France as they looked dominant from the start
The historic Maracana stadium has hosted two World Cup finals, in 1950 and 2014, and saw Messi and his squad become 2021 Copa America champions by beating Brazil 1-0.
With a September friendly looming for Argentina against their World Cup final conquerors Germany, coach Alejandro Sabella is aware of the urgency of a decision on his future.
Argentina suffered a blow to their 2018 World Cup qualifying plans when Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero withdrew on Monday from their squad to face Uruguay and Venezuela. Aguero and Paris St-Germain midfielder Javier Pastore both have calf muscle injuries and will miss Thursday's home clash with Uruguay and the visit to Venezuela next Tuesday, the Argentine FA said.
Sepp Blatter's current ban from the game was due to expire in October but the latest ban of six years and eight months, for ethics code violations, will take effect from that point.
Lionel Messi wanted Maradona to stay on as Argentina coach and is looking forward to playing in the same club side as Spain's Cesc Fabregas one day, the Barcelona forward said on Thursday.
Serbia refuses to recognise the independence of its former province Kosovo, whose 1.8 million people are mostly ethnic Albanians, which broke away 10 years ago, and opposed Kosovo's ultimately successful bid to join FIFA.
The 'Noodle' has broken again with Angel Di Maria injured during a third consecutive major tournament playing for Argentina at the end of a busy club season.
Argentina will return to Olympic football next year after sealing victory in the South American under-20 qualifying tournament in Uruguay on Saturday.
Angel Di Maria and Sergio Aguero will miss Argentina's final South American World Cup qualifier against Uruguay on Tuesday as the team who have already booked their place at next year's finals prepare to field yet more reserves.
Argentina got their World Cup qualifying campaign off to the perfect start on Thursday when Lionel Messi's early penalty gave them a 1-0 win over Ecuador in a lacklustre match in Buenos Aires.
Two Swiss government ministers have backed national team players Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri after their controversial goal celebrations in Friday's 2-1 World Cup win over Serbia.
Argentina, still reeling from the shock resignations of captain Lionel Messi and coach Gerardo Martino, have chosen Edgardo Bauza as their new coach, the Argentine FA said on Monday.
Media reports suggest Sevilla's Argentine coach Jorge Sampaoli, who has never disguised his ambition to take charge of the national team and steered neighbouring Chile to the Copa America title in 2015, will step into the vacancy.
Frozen balls containing team names have been used to rig European soccer's club competition draws although the ruse was never used at FIFA, the former chief of the game's world governing body, Sepp Blatter, has said.
Lionel Messi announced on Friday that he wants to return to play for the national team, reversing his decision to retire earlier this year. Messi said in June that he would not play for Argentina again after the team lost to Chile in the final of the Copa America.
Carlos Tevez has been included in the squad for the first time in three years for next month's friendlies in England against Croatia and Portugal.
They were two small Argentina players with the same enormous challenge -- to meet the expectations of a soccer-mad country. Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi have both proved themselves to be skilful giants on the world soccer stage despite their diminutive frames of 1.65 and 1.70 metres respectively.
Angel Di Maria has claimed his former club Real Madrid put pressure on Argentina not to play him in the World Cup final in another bitter chapter in his departure from the Spanish giants.
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