April 28, 2002

Argentina coach Marcelo Bielsa has claimed he will quit on Wednesday if the national federation fail to pay up £500,000 he is owed in wages and bonuses.

"Unless everything is resolved by this week, I will not be going to the World Cup finals," he said.

"I am extremely angry about the situation and I am mentally exhausted. It's dragged on far too long and the time has come to make a stand.

"If the money has not been received by Wednesday, I'll resign. I'm married with a young daughter and we have had to live without a salary for seven months," Bielsa added to the News of the World.

Argentine FA president Julio Grondona told onefootball.com last week that Bielsa had been repeatedly misquoted about the issue.

But the coach's intentions seemed plain enough on Sunday when he said: "Grondona has made continuous promises to me which have never been met. Our efforts for World Cup glory have been undermined by the Argentine FA and the president."

Bielsa, whose contract runs out in December, is owed at least £350,000 in bonuses and has not been paid his full salary for months as a result of the economic crisis ravaging Argentina.

He is only expected to collect a third of the money he is owed for leading the Albiceleste in Japan and Korea.

Argentine citizens have rioted frequently over the past nine months over the debilitating economic problems which have seen a succession of presidents resign.

Up until August 2001, the dollar was legal tender in Argentina alongside the peso - but the crisis made that impossible to maintain and the peso was left to sustain itself, sparking the country's worst recession since 1986.

At one stage it looked like the Clausura - the second phase of the Argentine championship - would be suspended, although this has now been averted.

Argentina have been drawn in World Cup Group F alongside England, Sweden and Nigeria.

Onefootball