Bilardo says time is tight for Maradona

By Rex Gowar

GLASGOW (Reuters) - Time is Diego Maradona's biggest enemy in his bid to lead Argentina to a third World Cup victory, according to 1986 title-winning coach Carlos Bilardo.

Maradona, captain of Bilardo's sides that reached consecutive World Cup finals in 1986 and 1990, was handed the job this month, barely a year and a half before the 2010 tournament in South Africa.

"We've got little time, there are 18 months -- less because there are the players' holidays which we must respect," Bilardo, director general of Argentina's national teams, told Reuters on Thursday.

"Then (in 1986) we had four years," he said. "There were young players like Oscar Ruggeri but they got there in good shape."

Bilardo did not want to discuss whether Argentine Football Association president Julio Grondona would grant Maradona's wish to include former defender and captain Ruggeri in his coaching staff.

"I don't know, we'll see," said the 69-year-old. "We have yet to draw up the team, the technical team, I mean. It's not been done."

Bilardo said Maradona's friends Alejandro Mancuso and Miguel Angel Lemme had only been named as his assistants for his coaching debut, a 1-0 win over Scotland at Hampden Park on Wednesday. He did not say whether the pair might be retained.

Grondona has cited personal differences with Ruggeri as standing in the way of him accepting the 1993 Copa America-winning captain on to the coaching staff.