``I didn't achieve my goal of getting us into the last four of the competition,'' he said after Argentina lost 2-1 to Holland in their quarter-final in Marseille yesterday.

Where he goes now is uncertain but Argentina fans will forever hold a torch for Passarella, who captained the side from 1976 to 1982 and held the World Cup aloft as skipper following the South Americans' first World Cup triumph in 1978. He was also in the 1986 World Cup-winning squad.

Passarella, 45, took over as coach from Alfio Basile after Argentina's second round defeat in the 1994 World Cup, clouded by the expulsion of Diego Maradona for drug use.

Basile's player-friendly regime was swept aside and stern disciplinarian Passarella read the riot act to Argentina's pampered super stars, rooting out the influence of Maradona, who became one of Passarella's manyenemies.Under Passarella's four year stewardship, Argentina played 50 games, won 29, drew 12, and lost nine.

But dissension bubbled under the surface and Passarella had a stormy relationship with his fans, as well as the players.

He hated long hair, drug taking, and homosexuality, and insisted that players bow to his standards on and off the field.

When stars like Claudio Cannigia, now of Boca Juniors and Fernando Redondo of Real Madrid baulked at his regime, he threw them out of the squad. There have also been reports that Argentina's 1986 World Cup winning coach Carlos Bilardo was mulling over a return to the helm.