Maradona congratulates Argentina's new coach

The former coach of Argentina's national soccer team, Diego Maradona, congratulated the team's new coach, Edgardo Bauza, on Wednesday through social networks and reminded that the new coach formed part of the team at the World Cup 1990 held in Italy.

"I want to congratulate 'Paton' ('Big Footed') Bauza, new coach of Argentina. I'll never forget that he was the player 24, of 23 in Italia '90. And he stayed to support the team throughout the WC," said the former soccer player.

Maradona, who became world champion with the national team at the World Cup 1986 in Mexico, ranked Bauza with the Argentine soccer greats of that time.

Through a comment published on his official Facebook account in Spanish, Italian and English, Maradona said that "we are a generation of players who leave everything for the national team."

Bauza, 58, was appointed as Gerardo Martino's successor on Aug. 1 and he will pick up where Martino left off in the South American qualifiers ahead of the World Cup 2018 in Russia.

As a soccer player, Bauza had a brief career in the national team, where he played in three friendly matches between 1981 and 1990 and he was part of the team, although unused, that came in second place at Italy 1990, under the direction of coach Carlos Bilardo.

Bauza, who will say goodbye to his current club, Brazil's Sao Paulo, gave his first news conference to local media on Wednesday where he commented on star player Lionel Messi's retirement from the national team, among other things.

"I am going to speak about soccer (with Messi). I want to know how he feels, how he felt in that moment when he had to talk and say that phrase. (I want to know) what happened to him for him to come to that conclusion," Bauza said, according to a report in Brazilian local daily Clarin.

Edgardo Bauza was referring to Messi announcing his retirement from international soccer after Argentina lost to Chile in the 2016 Centennial Copa America final recently played in the United States.

"Those of us who have been soccer players know that frustration can sometimes lead you to make decisions that upset and hurt," said Argentina's new coach.

"I still can't imagine the team without Messi. We will know more once we talk with him," added Bauza.

The coach also anticipated that in his first match as coach, goalscorer Gonzalo Higuain, who recently transferred to Italy's Juventus for a figure close to 100 million euros (around 112 million U.S. dollars), will be included in the team.

Higuain's transfer received strong criticisms from his fans at Italy's Napoli, where he had played since 2013 before recently moving to Juventus ahead of the 2016-2017 season. Enditem