Rex Gowar

The above picture was the defining image of Argentina's dramatic 2-1 victory over Peru in the rain on Saturday, and perhaps Diego Maradona's tenure as national team coach to date.

For many in Argentina, Maradona's reactions are indicative of an approach to the job that is too emotional.

Whatever he is really thinking, he often looks slightly bemused on the touchline when his team are not in control. He has been criticised for being unable to make the right substitutions, though he did pull a rabbit out of the hat with the introduction of mircale maker Martin Palermo, a striker who has been dubbed "the goal optimist".

When Maradona celebrates he is like any fan and while his dive on to the sodden pitch after Palermo's winner made for great pictures, the sports talk shows have been asking whether it was the image the national team manager should be giving.

The always elegant Cesar Luis Menotti, the coach who wrought a sea change in how Argentina's national team is run when he took charge in 1974 and set the tone for two World Cup victories, is probably having nightmares watching the present side.

Yet here they are, one win away form clinching a place at the World Cup finals.

Might emotional Maradona yet have the last laugh?

PHOTO: Diego Maradona celebrates Argentineas winning goal in their World Cup qualifier against Peru in Buenos Aires, October 10, 2009. REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci

Is Martin Palermo's amazing winner for Boca Juniors on Sunday, a header from nearly 40 metres that bounced just once on the line of the six-yard box on its way into the net, worthy of an entry into the Guinness Book of records?

This is a question Argentines have been asking, while TV sports chat shows have been running footage of other remarkable goals and moments in the career of the 35-year-old striker.

Palermo himself barely knew what had happened on Sunday. His expression as he celebrated his feat said it all. First a quick run, taking his shirt off and waving it over his head. Then a stance with feet and arms out wide in front of the hardcore fans at the Bombonera, soaking up the adulation but also with a wry grin as if to ask "How did I manage that?"

Velez Sarsfield goalkeeper German Montoya came out of his box to kick the ball clear. It went at head height towards the centre circle. Palermo, standing just outside the circle 38.90 metres from goal headed it right back and it sailed, veering towards the right, into the net. Another 10 metres and it would have hit the post or gone just wide.

"It always happens to me. When I look for similar stories of other players there aren't any. Things happen to me that I can't explain," Palermo told TyC Sports cable TV.

Diego Maradona is probably going to give Palermo, who scored twice with two orthodox headers in a friendly 2-0 win against a weak Ghana team last Wednesday, a start in Argentina's critical World Cup qualifier against Peru at the Monumental on Saturday.

It is another remarkable moment in the career of a striker who won seven caps in 1999, one of which came in a match against Colombia in which he missed three penalties, and then did not put on an Argentina shirt for 10 years.

Last month, he made his international comeback as a substitute in Argentina's 1-0 defeat by Paraguay that has left Maradona's team teetering on the edge of World Cup oblivion. Argentina's only real chance of that match fell to him in stoppage time but he was just short of getting to Rolando Schiavi's header across the face of goal.

A younger Palermo would probably have reached it and turned it in for an equaliser. Maradona hopes he can score against the Peruvians and Palermo said his wonder header on Sunday has been a confidence booster.

"Mentally, it's a great boost for what's coming with the national team," said Palermo, who, if he plays, will win his 10th cap.

"Obviously it's not the same to arrive (at the match) in good form as getting there in (the middle of) a bad run," added Palermo, whose Boca side had lost their previous four matches before Sunday's 3-2 victory over league title holders Velez.

PHOTO: Argentina's Martin Palermo celebrates after scoring against Ghana during their friendly in Cordoba September 30, 2009. REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci

Lionel Messi walks off the pitch in Asuncion his head bowed after Argentina's 1-0 defeat to Paraguay. A few days later he scores for Barcelona and the dimpled grin is back on his face.

Diego Maradona says that on the compact Rosario central pitch Argentina will pin Brazil against their goal. They do up to a point, with masses of possession, but Dunga's men demolish them in lethal counter-attacks with Maradona watching in glum silence and Argentina return to River Plate for next month's key World Cup qualifier against Peru.

"Coco" Basile is all grins, throaty one-liners and "I know the dressing room inside out" at his official presentation as Boca Juniors coach on July 1. Last weekend it was his empty look the cameras caught as he walked off the Bombonera pitch after another defeat.

Nestor Gorosito welcomes the three musketeers Ariel Ortega, Marcelo Gallardo and Matias Almeyda at the start of a new campaign last month. Last week he went sprawling in the mud on the side of the pitch when a Lanus player slid into him in pouring rain during a 1-0 defeat that put River Plate out of the Copa Sudamericana, and the crowd cheered.

Argentina's big teams, the national side that have won two World Cups and the multi-decorated Boca Juniors and River Plate, are not well and fans and media are struggling to understand why.

Former Argentina captain Roberto Ayala said recently in Spain he saw a "surprising lack of rebellion" in Argentina's players against their situation as Maradona's side hovered dangerously close to World Cup elimination.

The coaches may not have the answers but players who week in, week out make the European headlines for their clubs, the likes of Messi, Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero and Diego Milito, are failing to deliver for Argentina.

Does at least part of the answer lie in the fact that Argentina, who won the last two World Youth Cups, did not even qualify for this year's tournament kicking off on Thursday in Egypt?

Yet it was the very World Youth Cup that made world junior champions of Maradona in 1979, Juan Roman Riquelme and Pablo Aimar in 1997, Andres D'Alessandro in 2001, Messi in 2005 and Aguero in 2007. There is no questioning their quality.

Argentina may be lacking a midfield general, the kind of traditional No.10 who strolled the pitch spraying telling passes, the most recent of which was Riquelme.

Captain Javier Mascherano is not that man. Apart from the fact he is off his game, he patrols the area in front of the back four as Americo Gallego did for Cesar Menotti's 1978 world champions.

Maradona's Argentina now rely on Juan Sebastian Veron -- suspended against Peru after being sent off against Paraguay -- to dictate play but he is being asked to play further upfield than he does to greater effect from deeper for Estudiantes.

Argentina bunch up in the middle of their opponents' half, the forwards often get in each others' way and the defence is left thin and open to the counter-punch.

Sadly, River Plate and Boca Juniors, two of the country's traditional player production lines, have dried up in that department. All the most recent major exports are strikers.

Former River Plate midfielders Pablo Aimar, now at Benfica, and Andres D'Alessandro, who is in Brazil with Internacional, are on people's tongues again as the sort of No.10 Argentina need.

Maradona as a player was that and much more. He appears unable, though, to inject his team with the passion he showed in an Argentina shirt or, as their coach, a strategy that brings the best out of them.

PHOTO: Argentina's Lionel Messi pauses during their World Cup qualifying defeat against Paraguay in Asuncion, Sept 9, 2009. REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci

Those waiting for Diego Maradona to resign or be sacked after yet another dismal Argentina performance in the World Cup qualifiers forget that he is untouchable.

Maradona will press on blindly, brushing off criticism with remarks about having always fought adversity and come out on top.

The team he led to victory in the 1986 World Cup forged their solidarity in the them-and-us syndrome: Them being influential people in Buenos Aires, like then government Sports secretary Rodolfo O'Reilly, trying to get coach Carlos Bilardo ousted weeks before the tournament in Mexico when they looked a poor team.

Victory served to increase Maradona's self-belief and aura of invincibility.

Maradona recalled on Wednesday night that Argentina were close to elimination in the qualifiers for the 1986 finals and that they had to play Australia in a playoff for the 1994 tournament.

He is the arch-survivor, from the time an uncle plucked him as a little boy out of a cesspit in the shantytown where he grew up to the several occasions when he cheated death by drugs or obesity after retiring as a player.

Whether or not he is a good coach, an astute leader of men, an inspiration to his players doesn't come into it: Faith is the issue and "The Hand of God" claims to have plenty.

Maradona's appointment last October appalled a lot of Argentines but just as many had faith that he could inspire the team like no-one else, touch Lionel Messi with his magic wand and transform Argentina.

Good results in friendlies in his early games in charge fuelled the faith and a 4-0 home win over Venezuela in his first qualifier in charge looked good -- on paper.

Ultimately it did a lot of damage, because the team tried to play the same game more than 3,500 metres up in the rarefied air of La Paz and got pasted 6-1 by Bolivia.

There has been just one win in the four qualifiers since, 1-0 at home to Colombia who were unlucky not to get at least a draw.

In Maradona's defence, the team played well away to Ecuador in their next away game at altitude, pacing themselves, but a penalty miss by Carlos Tevez denied them the halftime lead they deserved. They lost their legs in the final quarter of an hour and conceded two late goals to go down 2-0.

The Brazil and Paraguay defeats in the last six days followed, leaving Argentina in the playoff position.

Tevez's Argentina form is symptomatic of the team's ills. He is no longer the South American Tevez who inspired Boca Juniors and Corinthians to titles. He has moulded himself into the ultimate idol of the English fans' and managers' love of the work ethic. He always gave his all but he seems to have lost his ball touch.

Messi's performances have merely highlighted the superb job Pep Guardiola does at Barcelona where the Argentine wonder kid responds brilliantly to a tune dictated by Xavi and Iniesta.

Argentines want to see the Barcelona Messi playing for their country but there is no strong team structure for him to shine in and he can't carry the team like Maradona did at a similar age.

The Argentina team became Maradona's baby as a captain. It is no different as a coach, only he lacks the ability from the touchline to carry the team to victory that he had as a player.

Critics have said they hope Maradona fails and Argentina don't go to the finals in South Africa so the team can make a new start. A process that brought Argentina five of their record six World Youth Cups in the last decade and a half and produced a team who were favourites to win the senior title in 2002 and met Brazil in the 2004 and 2007 Copa America finals has hit the buffers.

Maradona believes only he can save them.

PHOTO: Diego Maradona sits on the bench during Argentina's defeat by Paraguay in Asuncion, Sept. 9, 2009. REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci

So often ahead of a great sporting event, there is little evidence of a city's awareness that it is hosting something special, like last year's Euro2008 in Austria and Switzerland. Not so Argentina's big match with arch football enemies Brazil in this riverside city 300 km north of Buenos Aires, home to a bitter rivalry of its own between Rosario Central and Newell's Old Boys.

Saturday's World Cup qualifier is the talk of the town which was surprisingly offered the match in June after national team coach Diego Maradona criticized River Plate's Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires.

Fans of Rosario's two big clubs, kept apart to avoid potential fights, have been queuing for tickets since Monday outside their respective stadiums, braving the rain and cold of an Argentine winter in real or makeshift tents.

There is a new breed of profiteers called queuers, people who stand in line for a fee and buy your tickets for you, a local journalist said.

With so much at stake for Argentina, who need to pick up points to keep their World Cup qualifying hopes alive, there are fears of violence after the match if Maradona's team lose.

Far fewer people will be able to go to the match at Central's ground, commonly know as the Giant of Arroyito, which holds 41,000, than would have got into River Plate, with a capacity for 65,000.

But the move has been a boon for Rosario's hotels and restaurants, which usually have a quiet time in the winter, and street vendors of football paraphernalia.

Light blue and white striped Argentina shirts with Messi and the number 10 on the back are among the biggest selling items.

Lionel Messi, a son of Rosario, has never played an official match in his home town, having been whisked away to Barcelona as a mere 13-year-old, forging a career in Europe that has him on the verge of being named the world's top player.

One of the youngsters queuing for tickets, a fan of Messi's former club Newell's Old Boys, said: "It's worth waiting because don't often see the ‘seleccion' and even less Leo (Messi), whom we see on TV playing for Barcelona."

Fans hope to see Messi tear Brazil apart and ensure he and Argentina go on to play at the World Cup in South Africa next year.

PHOTO: A street vendor sells masks outside Rosario Central stadium ahead of the World Cup qualifier against Brazil, September 4, 2009. REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci

The English hooligan problem was at its worst outside Britain, when fans went to international matches abroad. Violence in Argentine football, by contrast, has reached a point in recent years where it is rarely even a confrontation between the hardcore fans of rival teams.

Now, factions who support the same team fight each other. At stake is control over a number of money-spinning ventures linked to their clubs.

It might appear paradoxical at first that just when Huracan have produced a stylish attacking team which nearly won the Argentine league title, their hardcore fans should to go war with each other.

Two men died and a number of people were injured in recent fighting in the Buenos Aires barrio of Parque de los Patricios just hours after the team's 3-0 home win over Arsenal had put them a point clear at the top of the standings. (They then unluckily lost the title decider to Velez Sarsfield.)

Fighting between groups from the same set of fans has nothing to do with on-field performance, except that a more succesful team generates higher crowds and therefore more business for the gangs (control of parking in the area, the sale of food, resale of match tickets and even drugs.)

La Zavaleta, a faction that had been marginalised a few years ago and kept quiet while Huracan languished in the National B championship (second tier), wanted a piece of the action but the powerful Jose C Paz and El Pueblito groups were reluctant to let go and violence ensued.

The government and the Argentine Football Association via its president Julio Grondona, tried to argue that the killings had nothing to do with football because they occurred far from the ground and were committed by criminals who don't care about the game.

They are constantly criticised by the media and by organisations representing victims of football violence for not taking preventative measures.

Thugs seem able to carry all kinds of illegal items into grounds under the very eyes of the police.

Unusally, the Jose C Paz faction posted an apology for the violence on a website although it went on to say La Zavaleta needed to be taught a lesson.

The lesson clubs never seem to learn is that as long as they give favours to hardcore fans and allow them to exercise power in and around the clubs, the violence will not go away.

PHOTO: River Plate fans are arrested by the Argentine police near the Monumental stadium before their Argentine First division soccer match against Velez Sarsfield in Buenos Aires September 9, 2007. They were arrested following a fight between two different River Plate fan factions. REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci

As Estudiantes bid to give Argentina the South American crown by winning the Libertadores Cup final, the fallout from Sunday’s Clausura title decider continues at an intensity not unlike that which followed Chelsea’s elimination by Barcelona in their Champions League semi-final.

It was not a final as such, but Huracan went into their last game of the season a point ahead of Velez Sarsfield who they happened to meet in a title decider at Velez. The home side got the win they needed to overtake Huracan on points with a goal scored by Maxi Moralez six minutes from time.

Referee Gabriel Brazenas apologised on Monday for mistakes he realised he made when he saw TV replays in the comfort of his armchair, saying he missed a penalty he should have awarded Velez and a foul in the build-up to the winning goal which he said should not have stood.

This was of little comfort to Huracan’s Angel Cappa, the normally measured coach who lost his cool in the closing minutes of the match after his side fell behind and said “the referee handed Velez the title on a tray”.

Velez coach Ricardo Gareca has countered that, and said he was surprised by Brazenas’s apology. Moralez shot the loose ball into the net after a collision between Huracan keeper Gustavo Monzon and Velez substitute Joaquin Larrivey, which Gareca argued was 50-50 and the keeper was to blame for misjudging his sortie.

And all of this after:
    1. The match went ahead despite the H1N1 flu scare that has claimed at least 60 lives and a government recommendation to people to avoid public gatherings.

    2. It was halted for half an hour after 19 minutes when the skies opened to pour torrential rain and hail onto that part of Buenos Aires but at no point did it seem likely play wouldn’t resume. This affected Huracan’s flowing style more than the combative football that suited Velez.

   3. There was a pitch invasion at the end by Velez fans which made it impossible for the team to do a lap of honour.

It was the only match that really mattered last weekend -- even if Rosario Central and Gimnasia-La Plata fans would disagree since their teams were fighting for their top flight survival –- and got the magnifying glass treatment.

Media and neutral fans have been divided as to the referee’s mistakes which also included disallowing an early Huracan goal for offside which TV replays showed should have stood.

He should also have given Velez a second penalty –- their first was saved by Monzon –- when left back Carlos Arano clattered badly into Fabian Cubero and risked being sent off.

Many argue that Velez were worthy champions, playing solid football and were the team with the best defence –- 13 goals conceded in 19 matches, unbeaten at home and with only one defeat in the tournament.

Huracan have been praised as the best team, playing the football most people like to see with a passing game and 35 goals in their 19 matches, although they lost five. The consensus, win or lose, is that they are good for the Argentine game.

What the “final” certainly did was highlight numerous ills of Argentine domestic football even if it did not suffer from the worst on this occasion -- fan violence.

Organisation though was poor with the large contingent of police doing nothing to control the huge number of Velez “extras” hovering close to their team’s bench in the narrow area between the pitch and the stands.

They then spilt onto the field to celebrate Moralez’s strike and the midfielder was sent off for taking off his shirt in jubilation, his second yellow card.

Cappa complained that after the goal some of the "extras" hid the match ball, causing an eight minute delay before play was resumed, and he was shown on TV insulting the perceived culprits.

So even Cappa, the neatly groomed “different” coach who learnt his trade in Spain and espouses the stylish football associated in Argentina with Cesar Luis Menotti but referred to long before him as “la nuestra” (our way), got sucked into the mire.

This after spending the two-week build-up receiving praise for the team he has built in six months and extolling the virtues of his rivals.

As for the referee, there has been no announcement of a sanction, but the head of the refereeing body, Jorge Romo, was quoted as saying: “Brazenas played badly so that’s why he didn’t take part in the draw for the promotion playoffs.”

That might be good news for Rosario Central and Gimnasia-La Plata.     

PHOTO: Velez Sarsfield's Hernan Lopez lifts the trophy after their victory against Huracan in Buenos Aires July 5, 2009. REUTERS/Santiago Pandolfi 

Is the fact that Brazil are Argentina's next opponents in the World Cup qualifiers getting to Argentines worried by the precarious position of Diego Maradona's team in the standings?

While Brazil enjoy more match practice at the Confederations Cup in South Africa, Argentina, their rivals in the 2005 final in Germany, are bickering over the pitch on which to host their arch-rivals in match that will have a major bearing on their World Cup ambitions.

The River Plate pitch was in a disgraceful state, Maradona said before his team, playing poorly, beat Colombia 1-0 in their last qualifier on June 10 just days after fans at a rock concert trampled all over it.

A 2-0 defeat away to Ecuador at altitude in Quito in a match Argentina, playing better than against Colombia, should have sewn up in the first half, had an unhappy Maradona once again harping on about the River Plate pitch where Brazil are due on the first weekend in September.

River Plate then brought their bitter enmity with Boca Juniors, the club Maradona played for and supports, into the issue.

They demanded from the Argentine Football Association (AFA) to see Maradona's contract and proof that the former national team captain had undergone psychological tests before being appointed to the job last year.

AFA president Julio Grondona apologised to River over the aggressive tone of Maradona's remarks.

"It's all about a Boca and River issue in which the River people are complaining about some remarks made by a fervent supporter of Boca," Grondona told radio La Red.

But he also reminded River that the AFA has first say over how the ground is used and had not been asked if the club could hold a rock concert there so close to a qualifier.

Grondona also admitted, though, that the AFA had been at fault in having only one stadium that fits FIFA specifications for World Cup matches and said it was applying for the ground of Rosario Central, in Argentina's second city 400 km north of the capital, to be passed as a reserve stadium.

Newspapers then extended the debate to canvassing fans as to whether they thought Argentina might be better off playing Brazil in the more compact Central stadium where the arch-rivals drew 0-0 during the 1978 World Cup.

With four matches to go, Brazil lead the South American qualifying group with 27 points, one more than Chile, three ahead of Paraguay and five in front of Argentina in the four automatic qualifying berths for next year's finals in South Africa.

Slipping down to fifth would put Argentina in a playoff berth against a team from the CONCACAF region of North and Central America and the Caribbean.

What also might help Argentina improve their position is playing better and for this Grondona believes it might be good to recall Boca playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme, who controversially quit the national team over critical remarks by Maradona in the media in March.

"Also, if possible we'll make a move to have Riquelme back," Grondona said. "It's not a request of Diego's, I haven't spoken to him about this. But who wouldn't want him back. I sent Riquelme a few hints, he's a good kid," said Grondona of the player who was the midfield fulcrum of the Argentina side that reached the 2006 World Cup quarter-finals.

The outspoken Maradona is paradoxically persona non grata at his beloved Boca because of his perceived role in Riquelme's decision to quit and hasn't been to his private box at the club's Bombonera stadium since.

PHOTO: Argentina's Diego Maradona reacts after an Ecuador goal during their World Cup 2010 qualifying match in Quito, June 10, 2009. REUTERS/Kevin Granja

When Carlos Bilardo began his job as Argentina coach in January 1983, the first thing he did was to visit Maradona in Spain where he was playing for Barcelona.

Bilardo told Maradona he wanted him as Argentina’s captain, that he was the only player sure of his place and that he would build a team around him to win the World Cup.

Maradona, who had had an unhappy first World Cup in Spain six months earlier, reacted by promising himself nothing would stand in their way.

"The first thing I resolved in that moment was to create something, a conscience: to play for the national team had to be the most important thing in the world,” he said many years later in his autobiography.

"If we had to travel thousands and thousands of kilometres, do it; if we had four matches in a week, play them; if we had to stay in little hotels that were falling apart, accept it…Everything, everything for the national team, for the blue and white.

"That was the style I wanted to transmit."

Maradona became a pioneer in trans-Atlantic commuting to play for Argentina, something dozens of South Americans, and rather reluctantly their European clubs, now take for granted to turn out for their national teams in World Cup qualifying matches.

It did not happen right away because Maradona, having moved on to Napoli, risked sanctions from the Italian football authorities for skipping club training sessions and even Serie A games.

Maradona would surely have won a lot more than his 91 caps if he had played some of Bilardo’s 24 first matches in charge and captained the side more than 57 times. He went nearly three years without playing for his country, from the loss to Brazil in the World Cup on July 2, 1982, in Barcelona, to his first match under Bilardo, a friendly with Paraguay in Buenos Aires on May 9, 1985.

However, once qualifying in South America, not the 18-match marathon it is now, got under way that year, he was there leading the team…and the rest is a well-known chapter or two in history.

Maradona is not placing the same responsibilities he shouldered on to one member of Argentina’s present generation of players.

He has told Javier Mascherano that he wants him to captain Argentina, but he also met with Lionel Messi during his European tour last week for, no doubt, he sees Barcelona’s wonder kid as the player who can embody his inspirational game on the pitch.

Messi goes into the 2010 World Cup, assuming Argentina qualify, with a similar background to Maradona’s pre-1986, both with a World Youth Cup victory under their belts followed by frustration in the senior tournament.

Messi was the substitute Argentines wanted to see unleashed on Germany’s two tall and lumbering central defenders during the second half of the 2006 quarter-final in Berlin. Coach Jose Pekerman had other ideas, Germany equalised and then won the penalty shootout.

A Maradona-like resurrection would put Messi and Argentina on top of the world in 2010.

PHOTO: Messi emulates Diego Maradona's "hand of god" goal with an equaliser against city rivals Espanyol, Barcelona, June 9, 2007. REUTERS/Albert Gea

"We’re in the hands of God," some Argentine newspapers said after Diego Maradona was appointed coach of Argentina, a move that has just been confirmed.

Much has been made of Maradona’s lack of experience as a coach but, as former Napoli president Corrado Ferlaino pointed out last week, Maradona was a coach on the pitch during the Italian club’s glory years.

His ability to direct Argentina’s campaign to reach and then win the 2010 World Cup is not the real worry at the start of this new phase in the idol’s life.

Rather, it is his volatile temperament that will be of concern, although there is the hope that he is calmer now that he appears to have come out of the tunnel of excess.

This is a comeback with a difference, because Maradona will have to rely on other players, rather than himself, to produce the magic while he sits on the bench.

He is not so different from the departed Alfio Basile, who prided himself above all in being a good selector of players before sending them out to play according to their feeling for the game.

This is where Carlos Bilardo steps back in, to drill home the set-pieces.

(Bilardo admitted after the successful 1986 World Cup that one aspect he should have given more time to was defending corners and crosses from close to the goalline, like those that brought a goal for Gary Lineker when England came back to 2-1 and nearly equalised in the quarter-final and the two Rudi Voeller strikes that pulled Germany back to 2-2 in the final).

That is the idea AFA President Julio Grondona evidently has in mind in reforming the triangle of the 1986 triumph and a second successive final in 1990 -- with himself as overseer.

Narigon (big nose) Bilardo is often also referred to as a loco in Argentina, crazy for his methods, his beliefs and his superstition. Can he revive his skills as a coach while Maradona inspires his successors Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero to match his exploits on the field?

PHOTO: One-month-old Bianca Astilleta is held by her father Sergio after she was "baptised" by The Hand of God church, during the celebration of Maradona's birthday in a Buenos Aires restaurant, October 30, 2008. Some 250 "Maradonian Church" members gathered to celebrate the start of the year 48 D.D. ("despues de Diego" or "after Diego") and the appointment of Maradona as new coach of Argentina's team. REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci