After a qualifying campaign plagued by acrimony and embarrassment, Argentina can look to the 2010 World Cup with hope after being drawn in a group with South Korea, Nigeria and Greece on Friday
After a qualifying campaign plagued by acrimony and embarrassment, Argentina can look to the 2010 World Cup with hope after being drawn in a group with South Korea, Nigeria and Greece on Friday.
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Argentina coach Diego Maradona celebrates in the rain after Martin Palermo scored the team's second goal against Peru during their FIFA World Cup qualifier at the Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina on October 10. Argentina won 2-1. Pic/AFP |
The events of a turbulent 18 months have given Argentine fans little to cheer, but in newly crowned European Footballer of the Year Lionel Messi they boast the world's best player, while their squad is thick with guile and top-level experience.
Diego Maradona was the only national coach absent from Friday's draw in Cape Town due to the FIFA ban imposed upon him because of his abusive rant at the media in the wake of the 1-0 win over Uruguay that secured qualification.
One of the world's all-time greats as a player, Maradona led his country to the 1986 World Cup title and then the final in Italy four years later, but as a coach he has cut an erratic and controversial figure.
"I tell my players that 30 days of sacrifice for the chance to kiss the World Cup is nothing in the life of a man," he said.
"An achievement like that is like touching the sky. I played in World Cups and I reached two finals. I know what it takes."
Argentina qualified despite a humiliating 6-1 loss at altitude in Bolivia and a first ever home qualifying defeat to Brazil, but underwhelming recent form is something of a feature in Group B.
South Korea, semi-finalists on home soil in 2002, overcame a sluggish start under new coach Huh Jung-Moo but eventually qualified with two games to spare to reach their eighth finals an Asian record.
"We were drawn in the so-called Group of Death in Asian qualifying and we made it through. We believe we can do the job again in South Africa," said Huh.
Nigeria are not the force that captivated the world at the 1998 tournament, when players like Jay-Jay Okocha and Sunday Oliseh illuminated their participation, but in Everton's Joseph Yobo, Chelsea's John Mikel Obi and Wolfsburg's Obafemi Martins they possess a steely spine.
Greece edged Ukraine by a single goal in their qualifying play-off after finishing behind Switzerland in a less than daunting group.
Otto Rehhagel, the man who masterminded the Euro 2004 win, is at the helm and can call on seasoned veterans as well as 10-goal Euro qualifying zone top scorer Theofanis Gekas.
