Government wants to honour Batistuta
June 14, 2002
BUENOS AIRES, June 14 (AFP) - The Argentinian government wants to stage a friendly match in honour of Gabriel Batistuta who announced his retirement from international football on Wednesday after the national team's World Cup failure.
Veteran striker Batistuta, Argentina's top scorer with 56 goals to his name, quit the national team after the 1-1 draw with Sweden which sent the tournament favourites spinning out of the World Cup at the first round stage.
"I will telephone Batistuta to propose the idea to him," said tourism and sports minister Daniel Scioli.
"He deserves all the recognition of the Argentinian people."
The AS Roma striker scored the winning goal in Argentina's 1-0 win over Nigeria in the first match of the finals, but then the South Americans' campaign went badly off the rails when they lost 1-0 to England and could only draw their final match with the Swedes.
It was the 33-year-old Batistuta's third World Cup finals.
On Friday, Mauricio Macri, the president of the striker's first club Boca Juniors, said he would make the team's stadium available for the match.
A similar tribute game was staged in November last year to honour Argentinian legend Diego Maradona.