Maradona slams Argentina boss Sampaoli, says 'he can't come home'

Argentina coach Jorge Sampaoli giving instruction during 1-1 draw against Iceland. [Photo/Courtesy]

Diego Maradona has sent an ominous warning to Jorge Sampaoli following Argentina's disappointing draw with Iceland.

The South Americans were held by the World Cup debutants in Russia as Lionel Messi's bid to finally win an international tournament got off to a slow start.

And Maradona did not hold back when asked for his view on Sampaoli.

"If he carries on like this, Sampaoli can't come back to Argentina," he said. "His gameplan was a disgrace. Even though the Iceland players average 1.90m in height, we played all our corners into the air. We had no short game."

Maradona, working as a pundit for Italian and Venezuelan television at the tournament, spared the players any blame for their performance and instead accused the former Sevilla coach of failing to prepare properly for Russia.

"I don't blame the players. I blame a lack of preparation because there obviously hasn't been any," said the 1986 World Cup winner.

"You can bring 25 brilliant players with you, but you have to work with them. We can see that Iceland were better drilled than Argentina and that is a massive shame."

Despite his scathing remarks about the manager, Maradona urged his country to stay behind their team and, in particular, Messi in spite of his pivotal penalty miss.

"It was extraordinary to see an Argentina without any answers, keeping their heads down, struggling to play accurate passes or one-twos," Maradona added.

"Messi was their only outlet. There is serious trouble ahead because Nigeria have experience, they know how to counter-attack and they know how to score."

Maradona was also seen smoking in the VIP area during the game in Moscow despite an official ban on smoking at World Cup venues.

He has also been accused of making a racist gesture to South Korea fans at the Otkritie Arena but took to Facebook this afternoon to deny the accusations.