Maradona wants to play for Argentina again

Former Argentina captain Diego Maradona says he wants to play one more match for his country.

The 40-year-old Maradona, who has suffered a string of drug-related problems, was quoted in the Daily Mail tabloid as saying he hoped to represent Argentina in their final World Cup qualifier against Brazil next September.

"I want to play one more time for my country, it is true," Maradona told the Mail.

"But only against Brazil. No matter what mistakes I have made with drugs, I am still Maradona, I am still El Diego."

Maradona has spent most of the past year in Cuba being treated for a life-threatening heart condition related to drug and alcohol abuse.

He was lucky to escape serious injury in a car crash in September.

Maradona is currently employed as manager of struggling Argentine club Almagro, though he has yet to see them play. On Sunday he ignored Almagro's match against Huracan, preferring instead to watch his old club Boca Juniors.

The Daily Mail suggested there was some support for Maradona donning an international shirt again within the Argentine Football Association. By the time of next September's game against Brazil both teams are expected to have already qualified for the 2002 World Cup finals.

Maradona, considered the greatest player of his generation, inspired Argentina to two World Cup finals. They beat Germany in Mexico in 1986 but lost to the Germans in Italy in 1990.

But his turbulent off-field lifestyle took its toll and in 1994 he was slung out of the World Cup for drug use and banned for 15 months. He played again for Boca but retired from professional soccer in 1997.