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 World-Maradona's Argentina have much to prove

BUENOS AIRES, May 18 (Reuters) - Argentina's path to the 1986 World Cup in Mexico was littered with obstacles yet, led by a genius called Diego Maradona, they built a title-winning side over the course of the tournament.

In 2002, Argentina travelled to Asia as overwhelming favourites after a brilliant qualifying campaign but they flopped in Japan and left without getting out of their group.

Maradona, now their coach, likes to say that the path to South Africa is similar to the one that led to glory in Mexico and that he prefers to go as underdogs.

He believes he has the players to go all the way and help him become the second man to have captained and coached his country to the world title after the former West Germany's Franz Beckenbauer.

"I'm confident, otherwise I wouldn't be here (in charge)," Maradona told a television chat show hostess recently.

"Despite everything, I'm still here standing firm, we have a very good future," added Maradona, whose team's erratic qualifying campaign had fans and media fearing the worst.

Maradona says Argentina are going to South Africa with much greater potential than they had in Mexico in 1986, the second and last time they won the title.

What he has to prove in the finals, where they are drawn in Group B with Nigeria, South Korea and Greece, is that he can mould a fine generation of players into the team that failed to materialise during the qualifiers and only just scraped through.

Maradona's side have since lost 2-1 away to Spain in a friendly in Madrid in November, playing poorly. He evidently decided that far back to discard players such as Esteban Cambiasso and Fernando Gago, highly regarded in Europe, from the provisional World Cup squad of 30 he named this month.

A 1-0 win away to Germany in March gave him the certainty that he would start the World Cup with a back four made up of four central defenders.

In front of them, he has captain Javier Mascherano and Juan Sebastian Veron in the middle with Jonas Gutierrez and Angel Di Maria on the wings.

He believes that is the framework in which to allow Lionel Messi and his strike partner Gonzalo "Pipa" Higuain, or Carlos Tevez, to flourish.

"It's clear to me there is no national team in the world with a Beckenbauer who would come out (of defence) playing and opened up the game with his head always high, except Lucio of Brazil, of course," Maradona said.

"I ask Lio and Pipa to conserve their energy to attack our rivals and that Lio should never stay still...Messi is impossible to stop because he's so fast.
Goalkeeper
21    Mariano Gonzalo Andújar  
22    Sergio Romero  
1    Diego Pozo  
Defender
6    Gabriel Heinze 
13    Walter Samuel 
4    Nicolás Burdisso  
3    Clemente Rodríguez  
2    Martín Demichelis 
12    Ariel Garcé  
15    Nicolás Ottamendi 
Midfielder
8    Juan Sebastián Verón  
20    Maxi Rodríguez  
14    Javier Mascherano  
17    Jonás Gutiérrez  
7    Ángel Di María   
5    Mario Bolatti 
23    Javier Pastore   
Forward
18    Martín Palermo  
19    Diego Milito       
11    Carlos Tévez     
10    Lionel Messi       
16    Sergio Agüero  
9    Gonzalo Higuaín     
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World-Factbox on Argentina

May 18 (Reuters) - Factbox on Argentina who are competing in Group B at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa:

Colours: Light blue and white striped shirt, black shorts, white or black socks.

Nickname: La albiceleste (the white and light blue)

Previous World Cup appearances - 14: 1930, 1934, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006

Best World Cup performance: Winners 1978, 1986

Coach: Diego Maradona

Most capped player: Javier Zanetti 136

Top goalscorer: Gabriel Batistuta 56

Talking points:

Maradona's lack of coaching experience and Lionel Messi's failure to reproduce his Barcelona form for his country were major topics of discussion throughout last year's qualifiers. Argentina have a major share of the European game's leading scorers but there are questions marks about the midfield and, in particular, what happens if the 35-year-old Juan Sebastian Veron is injured. Maradona seems set on playing four central defenders across the back, begging the question whether they are vulnerable to attacks from wide out.

Players to watch:

Those capable of a match-winning performance -- Lionel Messi, Carlos Tevez, Gonzalo Higuain, Juan Sebastian Veron, Angel Di Maria, all in brilliant form for their clubs. The leading players could carry them through but it will be a rollercoaster ride and their prospects are as unpredictable as their temperamental coach.