It was a curse of bad timing. Neither Diego Simeone nor Jorge Sampaoli were willing to quit their jobs to take on the coaching role for the Argentina national team following the Copa Centenario meltdown in July.
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Simeone is locked into a contract at Atletico Madrid until 2018 and would not do it on a part-time basis while Sampaoli would not walk out on a Sevilla side he joined only weeks before. The other preferred candidate for the Argentine Football Association – Mauricio Pochettino – was not ready to quit Tottenham either.