Sergio Batista has stepped down as Argentina coach after his team was knocked out of the Copa America in the quarterfinals, the Argentine Football Association (AFA) said Monday. “The national teams commission has decided to rescind the contract,” AFA spokesman Ernesto Cherquis Bialo told a news conference. “Batista wasn't sacked,” Cherquis Bialo added. “(Batista) put his future at the head of the national team up for consideration by the (AFA) executive committee.” Cherquis Bialo also said a friendly Argentina was due to play against Romania next month had been canceled. “The coaching staff of Argentina teams at all levels are under evaluation by the national teams commission,” he added. “There are no deadlines, there's no rush, no urgency (to name a new coach) so there will be a process of consideration and study.” National teams director Carlos Bilardo, who as coach steered Argentina to their second World Cup triumph in Mexico in 1986, has also come under scrutiny and risks losing his job. Argentina was favorite to win the Copa America it hosted but the loss to eventual winner Uruguay in the quarterfinals on penalties left Batista, who succeeded Diego Maradona after the 2010 World Cup, under pressure. A debate in Argentine media grew over the days since that July 16 defeat concerning Batista's competence and whether Argentina had lost its way. Previously Batista, holding midfielder in the 1986 World Cup-winning team, had steered the Argentine Olympic side to its second successive soccer gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Games. But despite boasting the world's best player in Lionel Messi and gifted strikers in Gonzalo Higuain and Carlos Tevez, Batista failed to build a team around the Barcelona ace capable of winning the South American crown. Local media has made former Estudiantes coach Alejandro Sabella favorite to take over the head coaching vacancy.
