Joaquin slams team and Aragones

By Brenz
October 6 2006

Valencia winger Joaquin Sanchez has slammed coach Luis Aragones and the Spanish national team for being a mess. Joaquin made these comments after he and Raúl were dropped for the Euro 2008 qualifier against Sweden. Spain lost 3-2 to Northern Ireland last month and Luis Aragones offered to resign. It was refused but Raúl, Joaquin, Mariano Pernia and Borja Oubina were left out for Saturday's Group F game.

"Right now, the national team is a mess, chaos," Sanchez told Spanish radio on Thursday. "And Luis doesn't know how to handle it in these difficult moments. I know that what I'm saying is not going to help me get back into the national team, but it's what I feel."

Aragones responded by saying:

"I don't know why Joaquin said that. Spain has never been a mess - neither when I was a player nor now that I'm coach."

But Joaquin said later Friday that his comments had been misinterpreted.

"The only thing I wanted to say is that these are not clear times for the national squad after losing to Northern Ireland .... but it was not my intention to attack the team or Luis Aragones," he said.

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