Argentina's Bauza bites the dust

After intense speculation, Bauza was sacked this month after a 2-0 defeat to Bolivia in La Paz, a result which left Argentina out of the automatic qualification spots for the 2018 World Cup.

The 59-year-old says he knew his time was limited after Claudio Tapia was elected president of the AFA at the end of March.

Tapia and his father-in-law Hugo Moyano - now vice-president at the AFA - have been involved in the Argentine Truckers' Union, with Bauza suggesting football is not an area of expertise for either.

"I was out of the national team before they took over," he said in an interview with La Capital.

"They didn't remove me earlier because we beat Chile [in the match prior to Bolivia]. If not, I would have been thrown out before.

"When we started talking football, he [Tapia] did not tell me anything because they have no idea about football. They are trade unionists. I do not say that to be disparaging, but it's the truth.

"Instead of telling me to go they wanted to wear me out with the rumours - obviously they did not know me.

"Once they realised that they were not going to get rid of me that way, they plucked up some courage and came and told me what they had done."

Tapia responded to Bauza's comments at the CONMEBOL congress on Wednesday by saying: "Good men say things in private. He had the opportunity to talk to me and he did not tell me anything."