Local media reports said that Argentine football legend Diego Maradona has agreed to a contract that would keep him on as coach of the national team until 2014, but there was no official confirmation late Tuesday, dpa reported.
Julio Grondona, president of Argentina's football association, has only said that he plans to meet with Maradona in person on Monday.
The golden boy of Argentina's 1986 world champions, Maradona coached a team that barely qualified for this year's World Cup in South Africa, where they were stopped in a 4-0 humiliation against Germany. He appeared distraught after the quarter-final loss, which was considered a disappointment by many observers at home.
The 49-year-old Maradona reportedly agreed in principle to a four- year extension in a telephone conversation with Grondona. That contract would keep the mercurial coach at the helm through the 2014 World Cup in neighbouring Brazil.