BUENOS AIRES, March 3 (Xinhuanet) -- Former River Plate footballer and coach, Leonardo Astrada Friday was confirmed as manager of Rosario Central, replacing Angel Zof, local press said on Friday.

    Astrada, 36, will take charge on Tuesday, after the game playedby the blue and white team against Gimnasia in La Plata city, during the eighth playing day of Argentina's closing tournament.

    Central is third from bottom in the tournament and is also playing in Group 7 of the Libertadores Cup, where it has lost two days in a row: 0-1 against Colombia's Atletico Nacional and 0-2 against Paraguay's Cerro Porteno.

    Astrada will bring his team from River. Hernan Diaz, a former River Plate player, who joined the team from Central's junior league will be his coach; Gabriel Macaya will be the physical trainer and Ernesto Corti will be his deputy.

    Astrada, known as "the chief" has a one-year contract with the club, which says the club must appoint another manager if he is given a role on the club's board.

    Newell's Old Boys and Rosario Central are the two main teams inthe Argentine city of Rosario, in Santa Fe province.

    The club won Argentina's national titles in 1971, 1973, 180 and1986/1987, but has fallen on hard times since then, dropping into the second division. Enditem