Maradona plays down World Cup advisory role offer
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-10-28 08:49

HAVANA, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Soccer great Diego Maradona, who was offered an advisory job on Argentina's 2006 World Cup team on Thursday, said he did not see a role for himself on the team he led to glory in 1986.

"I'd rather stay at home than be a decorative figure who decides nothing," he said on Cuban television.

Argentine Football Association president Julio Grondona said there was a place for Maradona on the national team, though his exact role has not been defined.

Maradona said he would speak to Grondona, but did not see much future in the offer.

"I don't want to get in anybody's way. I am not clear about what my role could be," he said, adding that Argentina coach Jose Pekerman should be free to select his own players.

The former Argentina captain said world champions Brazil were odds-on favourites to win the Cup in Germany.

"Brazil is one notch above everyone else," he said.

Looking slimmer after overcoming drug abuse and undergoing an operation to staple his stomach to reduce his ballooning weight, Maradona appeared on television with Cuban President Fidel Castro.

Maradona was in Havana to interview Castro for his weekly television show in Argentina, "La Noche del 10" (The Night of the Number 10), a reference to his shirt number on the national team.