The man said it in Germany right after Argentina was knocked out of the World Cup.

The man repeated it in Buenos Aires minutes after his plane landed.

He is not staying. Provided there are no miracles around, PEKERMAN will become Argentina’s ex-manager and he seems to be adamant.

Hugo TOCALLI, PEKERMAN’s assistant manager, could continue acting as an interim manager until the end of this year and it’s very unlikely he will become a potential full-time manager for the future.

However, the final word on that will come next week. There will be a meeting at the AFA headquarters in Buenos Aires and its president Julio GRONDONA will try all the tricks in his bag to convince PEKERMAN to stay.

If he fails, then there are several names dancing in the air.

Let’s take a look at some of them:

Diego MARADONA: Nobody feels the same about our national team. Nobody lived the things he lived as a player. There are no other icons such as his figure to identify our Country. He is dying to have the chance of managing Argentina but he is hardly qualified for that and his managerial jobs have been far from a success.

Alfio BASILE: Has experience at a World Cup (USA ’94). Suffered from the controversy around MARADONA’s suspension and the team fell to pieces. Was undefeated before that for more than 30 international matches. Have won the last 4 trophies at stake while at BOCA JUNIORS. Plays offensive and attractive football and won’t be afraid of playing the likes of MESSI, TEVEZ, AGÜERO, SAVIOLA, AIMAR all together.

Daniel PASSARELLA: Managed during France ’98 and was captain in Argentina ’78. Knows his stuff but had a tight relationship with the media and some key players (REDONDO being the most notorious).

Américo GALLEGO: He says if he was blonde he’ll be regarded as one of the best in the World. He might be right! He won league titles with RIVER PLATE, INDEPENDIENTE and NEWELL’S OLD BOYS in Argentina and with TOLUCA in Mexico. Very successful and loved by the players. Was assistant manager for PASSARELLA in France ’98 and was also a player during Argentina ’78.

Jorge BURRUCHAGA: Seems to be GRONDONA’s favourite if he fails to convince PEKERMAN. He is a young manager (currently at INDEPENDIENTE) and has talent. Was an icon for Argentina, scoring the third goal in the World Cup final against Germany in Mexico ’86.

Miguel Angel RUSSO: Another young and talented manager. Was crowned champion with VELEZ SARSFIELD and has a good image. He was left out of the World Cup Squad in 1986 in one of the final cuts made by BILARDO.

Carlos Salvador BILARDO: Speaking of which…he was the first one to apply for the job even before returning from Germany, where he was working as a TV commentator. That early postulation was not welcomed by the AFA. Has the backing of many in the media and the public opinion (however PEKERMAN continues to be the favourite in every poll). GRONDONA is not a fan of his defensive style even though noboby can forget the World Cup victory in ’86 and the final four years later in Italy.

Carlos BIANCHI: He is probably the most successful manager in the history of the Argentine league and if he is not, he is right up there with the best. Failed the two times he went to manage in Europe (AC ROMA in the 90’s and ATLETICO MADRID last season). He doesn’t get along well with GRONDONA and that could hurt his chances. But nobody can underestimate his chances, specially being so strongly identified with every BOCA supporter.

Ramón DIAZ: Played in ’82 alongside MARADONA. Had a great career playing for INTER MILAN and then became a great manager for RIVER PLATE (winning several leagues and 1 Copa Libertadores -1996-). Offensive minded. He likes his teams to play attractive football. The bad thing about him? He’s been inactive at a high level for quite some time and has a tendency to be very controversial with his statements.

Héctor CUPER: He is currently unemployed. Had great spells at VALENCIA and INTER but failed to win the important final matches.

Nery PUMPIDO: Recently hired by NEWELL’S, he was the goalkeeper in Mexico ’86 and had great campaigns as a manager in the Paraguayan league (even winning the Copa Libertadores with OLIMPIA). He is not a clear favourite for the job but given his low profile, he could surprise a few people.

Ricardo LA VOLPE: He recently managed Mexico in the World Cup and ended up in a war against the media. But he is a talented manager and he is Argentinian. He was the third goalkeeper in Argentina 1978 and could come as a great option for GRONDONA. On the other hand, he is not very popular with the people because he left Argentina in 1978 and never managed a club in our country so people don’t know him.

I was playing mysterious here. I was telling you I had some big news coming regarding Argentina and it’s time for me to deliver and finally give you this information.

You all remember that friendly match we played against Angola (May 31st in Salerno, Italy). You all know we won with Maxi RODRIGUEZ and Juan Pablo SORIN scoring our goals in a 2-0 result.

But what none of us knew back then was that it was going to become the most important Argentina friendly match of all times!
Why? Because amongst the crowd there were a few men that were ready to sing a contract that is going to determine the future of our national team during the next four years.

Viktor Feliksovich VEKSELBERG is the third wealthiest man in Russia (behind Mikhail KHODORKOVSKY and Chelsea’s owner Roman ABRAMOVICH). He owns a number of companies related to the steel production and oil refinery in Russia and recently he bought a Gustav KLIMT’s painting for a record fee of 107 million euros (beating the record fee ever paid for a painting –a Picasso one-).

Guillermo TOFONI (picture here to the left of FIFA President, Sepp Blatter) is a former Argentinos Juniors’ youth team goalkeeper and the only FIFA agent born in Argentina legally allowed to organise international friendly matches. (http://www.worldeleven.com/ They have an English version on their website)

Julio GRONDONA is the president of the AFA (Argentine Football Association) and one of FIFA’s vice-presidents. He is in charge of the AFA since 1978 and he plans to continue at the helm.

The three of them were watching PEKERMAN’s team defeating Angola but at the same time were finalising the details of this incredible contract that was signed soon after that night.

What is this all about?

VEKSELBERG’s company –Gulgong- (teamed-up with TOFONI’s company –World Eleven-) has bought the rights to organise and distribute the broadcasting of 24 friendly matches that Argentina must play between the recent World Cup and the 1st of August, 2011.

For that privilege, the Russian millionaire will pay a total of 18 million dollars. Nine of them were already paid and the rest will be effective in amounts of 350.000 per game (half before each match and the other half hours after each friendly).

Not only that. There is a clause in this contract that forces the AFA (or the manager that will be in charge of the National Team) to field at least 7 players out of the list that was handed out by VEKSELBERG and TOFONI to GRONDONA.

They created the list before the World Cup and it includes the 23 players that made it to Germany 2006, plus 7 other raising stars.

It was a way that the Russians found to avoid organising a friendly match and realising just before the game that there were no prime-time players taking part of it. By including this clause, they guarantee at least 7 big names.

The 30 players are the following:

Roberto ABBONDANZIERI
Leo FRANCO
German LUX (River Plate – Goalkeeper)
Oscar USTARI
Roberto AYALA
Juan Pablo SORIN
Fabricio COLOCCINI
Gabriel HEINZE
Lionel SCALONI
Gabriel MILITO
Leandro CUFRE
Nicolas BURDISSO
Hernan PELLERANO (Velez Sarsfield – Defender)
Esteban CAMBIASSO
Javier MASCHERANO
Juan Roman RIQUELME
Pablo AIMAR
Maxi RODRIGUEZ
Luis GONZALEZ
Fernando GAGO (Boca Juniors – Midfielder)
Fernando BELLUSCHI (River Plate – Midfielder)
Federico INSUA (Recently bought by Borussia Dortmund, Germany)
Leandro SOMOZA (Velez Sarsfield – Midfielder)
Martin DEMICHELIS (Bayern Munich – Midfielder)
Javier SAVIOLA
Hernan CRESPO
Carlos TEVEZ
Rodrigo PALACIO
Lionel MESSI
Julio CRUZ

You may be wondering…WHAT ABOUT KUN AGÜERO? Well…they thought about it and they decided to leave him out of the list because they presume that KUN will be called up by whoever becomes Argentina’s manager. So they left KUN out of the list to pick another of the players they want to see and give him the chance to be included in the squad.

It sounds incredible and I’ve got two ways of reading this whole thing about this contract.

On one hand, we all know about the struggling economy of Argentina and its football is not something different. This rich contract and all the money coming in will help the clubs and the AFA to survive and invest a little bit more in the infrastructure and the youth systems.

Argentina will play more often and its ‘brand’ will become more popular. The team will become more competitive as all of our players will be used to face International opposition (not only South American). The Russians will manage the broadcasting rights and Argentina could benefit from that because the Albiceleste will reach millions and millions of new homes and more supporters will join us.

But on the other hand, this contract seems to force the new manager to pick the names that are included in a list. That won’t give the manager a total freedom and will probably create a bad atmosphere around the team. I can already see that if one of the players included in the list has a bad game, he’ll be criticised and people will start saying that he shouldn’t have been in the list in the first place. I know it’s silly, but it’ll happen. Take my word on that.

We’re going to have to wait and see if this contract proves to be beneficial or disruptive.

There are a lot of rumours around the AFA stating that PEKERMAN is actually leaving because he does not want to be conditioned by an investor designing who should play or not.

I don’t know how much those rumours are true, but it make sense if they are.

True rumours or not, the official word is that the first friendly will be against South Africa and will take place somewhere in Africa (still to be determined) the 16th of August (yes, in a month!). Then on November 15th, we’ll play against Turkey at Dortmund, Germany. They want to make the most out of the great number of Turkish leaving in that area to guarantee a sold out. Plus with Federico INSUA now playing for Borussia Dortmund, some of their fans will be attracted by him and will also attend to that match.

Here are some other aspects covered by the contract:

The Russians will take care of the travel and accommodation of the players and
the staff before each match. They will pay for 35 plane tickets and 4
daily meals.

They will give the AFA 100 VIP tickets to distribute
at will (protocol, fans’ contest to win the ticket as a prize, sponsors,
etc.)

After each game, there’ll be 2 players attending the
press conference. One will be chosen by the AFA and the other by the
Russians.

Out of the 24 friendly matches contemplated in the
contract, 10 should be category ‘A’ (as FIFA determines each friendly depending
on FIFA Ranking or simply the status of both teams), 7 should be ‘B’ rivals and
7 ‘C’.

Are you happy with this ‘Magical Mystery Argentour’?