BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Gerardo Martino has been hired as coach of Argentina, less than three months after leaving Spanish club Barcelona. The Argentine Football Association said the 51-year-old Martino will replace Alejandro Sabella, who stepped down after Argentinas loss to Germany in last months World Cup final. Martino will be officially introduced on Thursday. It will be Martinos second coaching role with a national team, having been in charge of Paraguay from 2006-11. Martino was hired until the end of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup, but the contract will be automatically extended if the team makes it to the tournament in Russia. Martino left Barcelona in May with one year left on his contract after the club failed to win a major trophy for the first time in six years. Known for offensive squads, Martino had been favoured for the job by soccer association president Julio Grondona, who passed away on July 30. One of the reasons Martino was seen as a good fit for the role is because he has good relations with Lionel Messi and midfielder Javier Mascherano, the Barcelona players who are the leaders of the Argentine national team. His first official task will be to pick the squad for a Sept. 3 friendly against Germany in Duesseldorf, a match that was scheduled before the nations made it to the World Cup final in Brazil. The squad announcement is expected next week. Martino began his career almost 16 years ago with small club Brown de Arrecifes in Argentina. After coaching other local clubs, he moved to Paraguay to manage popular clubs Libertad and Cerro Porteno. He returned to Argentina in 2005 to coach Colon, then had another stint with Libertad before taking over Paraguays national team in late 2006. He led the South American nation to the quarterfinals of the 2010 World Cup and to the final of the 2011 Copa America, won by Uruguay. He revamped Newells Old Boys after arriving in 2012, leading the Argentine club to a national title and the semifinals of the Copa Libertadores in 2013. His success with Newells helped him land the Barcelona job, but he wasnt able to live up to expectations in Spain. Argentina, coming off the 1-0 loss to Germany in the World Cup final at the Maracana Stadium, hasnt won a major title since the 1993 Copa America in Ecuador. The team won gold in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, tournaments played mostly with under-23 players.
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Vegas Golden Knights Shirts . Hes still nowhere close to throwing yet. The four-time MVP was in good spirits when he made his first public appearance on the field since having neck surgery Sept.Lewis Hamilton has slipped 43 points behind championship leader - and Mercedes team-mate - Nico Rosberg after being dogged by misfortune so far in 2016. Whether its reliability problems, first-lap collisions or slow starts, his title defence is already severely under threat.But how many points has bad luck really cost Hamilton? Australian GPGrid: 1st; Race: 2nd (18 points)After dominating all three practice sessions and beating Rosberg to pole by 0.3 seconds, the stage looked set for Hamilton to ease to victory at the season-opening race.But after a poor getaway, both Hamilton and Rosberg were passed by the fast-starting Ferraris and the world champion even fell as low as seventh on the opening lap. Toto Wolff has strongly denied claims from some fans that the team are sabotaging Lewis Hamilton Hamilton blamed his struggle off the line on wheelspin but it was contact with Rosberg - who nudged the Englishman wide at Turn One - which had the biggest effect on his race. Hamiltons front wing had to be replaced following the red flags and, despite having difficulty passing Toro Rossos Max Verstappen, was able to recover to finish second. He was never able to worry Rosberg, though, who profited from Ferraris tyre strategy blunder to win. Points lost through bad luck: 0Rosbergs move was forceful, but certainly not against the rules, and with a better start and entry into the corner Hamilton wouldnt have found himself in that position. Unlucky? It was in his hands - and he couldnt point to Mercedes mechanical failures on this occasion. Bahrain GPGrid: 1st; Race: 3rd (15 points)Hamilton produced the fastest lap ever recorded at Bahrain to secure pole but, once again, he came undone at the start. Whereas wheelspin was the culprit in Australia, Hamilton admitted his own reactions couldve been sharper under the lights in the desert - although he was still on Rosbergs tail into Turn One before an over-eager Valtteri Bottas - handed a drive-through penalty for his error - rammed into the side of his Mercedes. Hamilton defends Merc issues Brit has defended Mercedes despite more reliability issues Lewis left the door open but Valtteri shouldnt have walked through it. He was a day late and a dollar short, said Sky Sports F1 pundit Martin Brundle.Mercedes calculated the damage done to Hamiltons W07 was worth a second of track time per lap but he still battled back to third, pushing Kimi Raikkonen before the Ferrari pulled away with the final stint. Rosberg, meanwhile, was celebrating five in a row. Hamilton collides with Valtteri Bottas at the first corner of the Bahrain GP Points lost through bad luck: 10Bottas was handed a penalty and completely at fault for the incident but with a good getaway Hamilton shouldnt have even been close to a Williams at that early stage.But after his exploits in qualifying, Hamilton would have been confident he could have caught Rosberg. His team-mate finished 30 seconds up the road in the end, though the Brits car was severely damaged. Chinese GPGrid: 22nd; Race: 7th (six points)Already in the knowledge that he would start no higher than sixth due to a pre-race gearbox change, Hamiltons weekend quickly went from bad to worse when Q1 started in Shanghai. The world champion was unable to set a qualifying time due to an engine failure, and would start the race at the back of the grid.On this occasion, Hamilton claimed he had the fastest start of the whole field and was quickly making early ground. However, as if playing catch-up wasnt a big enough challenge, he made contact with Felipe Nasr following the first corner, with the Sauber trying to avoid Raikkonen following the Fiinns collision with team-mate Vettel.dddddddddddd Russian GP driver ratings Hamilton, Alonso and Magnussen rush to impress in Russia, There was nothing Hamilton could do. Again, it was to be an afternoon of damage limitation as the race played into Rosbergs hands.Not only was Hamiltons front wing badly damaged, but the floor of his W07 then suffered damage when the wing became lodged beneath the car, severely affecting the aerodynamics.Felipe Massas sixth place proved too big an ask for Hamilton, though he didnt cover himself in glory when locked in a battle with the Williams and Daniel Ricciardo. That is quite possibly the worst lap I have seen Lewis Hamilton drive in an F1 car, noted Brundle. Natalie Pinkham joined Hamilton at Mercedes’ Brackley base for a live Facebook chat But was this just because the W07 drove like a four-poster bed? As for the problems with the MGU-H, Mercedes claimed they understood the issues and would bring the failed power unit to the next race as a spare.Points lost through bad luck: 12A Chinese GP to forget for Lewis. Mechanical issues plagued his whole weekend while he was incredibly unfortunate to hit Nasr after his flying getaway.Rosbergs performance in qualifying, especially on the soft tyre, was impressive and his race was peerless, but, without the mitigating circumstances, Hamilton would have fancied a run at Sebastian Vettel for second place - at least. Russian GPGrid: 10th; Race: 2nd (18 points)The stage was set for a qualifying shootout between Rosberg and Hamilton before more unreliability problems blighted Lewis Saturday. Again, a power unit had failed - though at least hed made it into Q3 this time.Starting from 10th, Hamilton finally managed to avoid heavy contact on lap one and the Vettel-Kvyat collision played into his hands, rising up to fifth when the Virtual Safety Car was deployed.His overtaking skills were impeccable as he rounded Felipe Massa, Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas and at one stage an unlikely race victory was in his sights. Hamilton quells rumours that the Mercedes team changes are to blame for poor fortune Hamilton had cut Rosbergs gap out in front to seven seconds before being warned of a water pressure issue which cooled off his charge to such an extent that Hamilton eased off down the straights. There wasnt a doubt in my mind that I couldnt win it, I had the pace, said Hamilton. Toto Wolff Q&A Toto Wolff discusses Lewis Hamiltons recent car troubles Points lost through bad luck: 0Wolff was quick to brand fans peddling conspiracy theories as lunatics but the problems just keep adding up for Lewis, who may already have to take his third engine of the season. Faster than Rosberg on Friday and in Saturday morning practice, he couldnt really have done any more in Sochi and his qualities were evident in the race when cutting the leaders gap. But was pole, let alone ending Rosbergs winning streak, on offer? Hamiltons team-mate held an advantage over him in Q2 and set a lap record, completing a grand slam in the process, during the race in Sochi. Rosberg was faultless and he may not have been caught.On the whole, however, Hamilton has been very, very unfortunate at the start of 2016 - with his woes costing him at least 20 points and maybe many more. Every race live in 2016 Sky Sports F1 brings you every race live in 2016. Fast and easy online upgrade - click here. Also See: Rosberg: No ecstasy without Lewis fight Hamilton defends Mercedes team ' ' '
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