BBC Sport Online: Football

Passarella quits Uruguay

Passarella, who has frequently complained about a lack of time to train his squad, blamed "differences with the directors of Nacional" for his resignation.

Passarella led Argentina to victory in the 1978 World Cup and coached them at the World Cup in France two years ago.

He said: "I want to apologize to the people of Uruguay but the way things were, I think it was necessary."

His decision came just a day after he added Nacional's Vicente Sanchez to the squad only to discover the player had gone with his club to Chile for a match against Concepcion.

Passarella's departure, one month before a crucial match at home to Paraguay, is a bitter blow to Uruguay's chances of qualifying for the World Cup for the first time since 1990.

Uruguay are fifth in the South American qualifying group, from which four teams qualify directly for Japan and South Korea in 2002.