Simeone to become Racing's coach (7 Feb 2006 20:33 GMT)
Former Argentina captain Diego Simeone will hang up his boots later this month and step into the job of coach for his current team Racing Club (Argentine league), according to local radio reports.
The midfielder, who represented his national team a record 106 times, had said he would end his playing career in May, but he changed his plans after Fernando Quiroz resigned as Racing coach on Sunday.
Fernando Marin, president of the Blanquiceleste group that controls Racing Club, told Radio La Red that Simeone would begin his new role on February 20.
"I asked him to take the position because this seems the right time to me. He will play for three more games, then take his bows," Marin said.
Simeone, 35, was renowned for his tough playing style and once described football as a game played with a knife between one's teeth.
He made his debut for Argentina in 1988 and appeared in the World Cup tournament three times.
Simeone, who is nicknamed El Cholo after his footballing father, is also a lifelong Racing fan, and joined the club in 2005 with the intention of ending his career there.
"The proposal took him by surprise at first but Simeone has always loved Racing and this is an ideal opportunity," Marin told the radio station.
The former Atletico Madrid, Lazio and Inter Milan player will make his coaching debut against Independiente, one of the pace-setters in the current Clausura title race in Argentina.
Racing have lost all three games played since the Clausura championship began in late January and the most recent defeat, 1-0 at the hands of Arsenal, made Quiroz' situation untenable.
Racing last won an Argentine championship in 2001 under coach Reinaldo Carlos Merlo.
source : CNN