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

After watching a Bundesliga game in which all the goals are scored by Peruvians, it is hard to imagine that the South American country’s national team is in such a predicament.

Paolo Guerrero scored twice for Hamburg SV on Sunday in their 2-1 win over Schalke 04, whose consolation was scored by his compatriot Jefferson Farfan.

But neither of them will be on the field when Peru host arch-rivals Chile in a South American World Cup qualifier, nor will Claudio Pizarro who has scored 12 goals for Werder Bremen this season.

Once considered the third team in South America behind Brazil and Argentina, Peru lie bottom of the 10-team South American World Cup qualifying group with a paltry five points from 10 games. Their results have included a 5-1 defeat in Ecuador and 6-0 thrashing in Uruguay. They have scored five goals in 10 games yet feel they can afford the luxury of doing without their top players.

Farfan and Pizarro were both suspended for 18 months by the Peruvian federation for alleged acts of indiscipline at the team hotel following a World Cup qualifier against Brazil in November 2007.

The bans were later cut to three months and have long since ended by coach Jose del Solar has refused to recall the pair, nor defender Santiago Acasiete who was banned alongside them.

Guerrero, meanwhile, is serving a six-match suspended for his furious reaction to being sent off during the Uruguay match.

Pizarro, in particular, has repeatedly protested his innocence and accused the Peruvian federation of using the alleged incident — based on the evidence given by a television reporter — as a smokescreen to hide its own problems,

“He (Del Solar) knew perfectly well that I was not involved and told me personally, but never said anything in public,” Pizarro said in a newspaper interview with El Comercio last month. “That hurt me. He knows he let me down.”

Peru’s problems go far beyond alleged indiscipline by the players. Last year, the in-fighting amongst Peruvian officials reached such a point that FIFA briefly suspended the country.

The players also complain about the country’s notorious tabloid newspapers and reality television shows, often accusing them of turning a quiet beer with friends into stories of all-night debauchery.

Last year, television presenter Magaly Medina spent two months in prison after being found guilty of defaming Guerrero.

In the meantime, Peru flounder at the bottom of the table and Del Solar’s refusal to recall Pizarro and Farfan seems to be a well-aimed shot in his own foot.

PHOTO: Schalke 04’s Mladen Krstajic challenges Guerrero for a header in Gelsenkirchen, March 22, 2009. REUTERS/Ina Fassbender

This is the final instalment in our look at the peculiarities of Latin American championships, after an introduction, a tour through Peru, and on to Uruguay and Mexico. 

And so to Ecuador.

With three stages, bonus points and a two-leg final, Ecuador’s championship is a brave attempt to keep as many teams in with a chance of winning the title for as long as possible. In fact, getting knocked out takes some doing.

In the first stage, the 12 teams play each other twice and the top four qualify for the third (repeat third) stage. They also carry through bonus points — three for the winners, two for the second-placed side and one for the third-placed side.

If a team happens to finish bottom of the first stage, there’s no need to fret because there’s still the second stage to come.

This time, teams are divided into two groups of six and the top two in each also qualify for the third stage (joining the four teams from the first stage). Should one of these four teams have also finished in the top four of the first stage, the next-best team will also go through. One bonus point is awarded for the winner of each group.

The bottom two teams over the first two stages combined are relegated.

Meanwhile, the lucky eight who reached the third stage are divided into two groups of four and the winners of each group meet in a two-leg final.

There are several drawbacks to this system. A team which qualifies for the third stage in the first stage will have little to play for in the second stage, apart from one measly bonus point. And it’s quite possible for the eighth-best team over the first two stages to win the title.

As with Peru, it does avoid the possibility of one team running away with the tournament, though.

PHOTO: Deportivo Quito’s Oswaldo Ibarra celebrates after his team scored against Universitario de Deportes during their Copa Sudamericana soccer match in Quito August 5, 2008. REUTERS/Guillermo Granja

This is the fourth instalment in our look at the wacky world of Latin American championships having started with an introduction and then analysed Peru’s interesting league system and moved on to Uruguay.  

Today, we’ve reached Mexico and it’s a goody.

Mexico has some of the finest stadiums in Latin America and pays some of the highest wages. It is also notable for having a system in which the championship’s best team repeatedly fails to win the title.

Like several countries, Mexico holds two championships per season, the Apertura and Clausura. There is no overall champion.

Each championships consists of a qualifying stage follow by a knockout stage, known as the Liguilla.

In the qualifying stage, the 18 teams play each other once — but are curiously divided into three groups. The top two teams in each group qualify for the quarter-finals while the two best teams from the remainder, regardless of group, also go through.

There are two major drawbacks: some groups often turn out to be much stronger than others and it is possible for a team to finish bottom of their group and have more points than the leaders of a different group; it is also common for the best team in the qualifying stage to then get unceremoniously dumped out in the quarter-finals.

Of the last five champions, only Pachuca also had the best overall record in the qualifying stage.

To complicate matters further, relegation is decided over three full seasons — which means six championships. This makes it theoretically possible for a team to win the championship and get relegated at the same time.

Tigres UANL came close to achieving this unique feat. They were relegated in 1996 and also qualified for the play offs, but lost to Necaxa in the quarter-finals.

PHOTO: Toluca’s Carlos Esquivel looks surprised during a Mexican League match against Tigres at the Universitario stadium in Monterrey November 8, 2008. REUTERS/Tomas Bravo

Peru’s new system, introduced after the league increased the number of teams from 12 to 16, is particularly curious.

The “Decentralised” championship, as it is known, begins with the 16 teams playing each other twice in the conventional style. For most people, with matches being played from the jungle of Iquitos to the dizzy heights of the central Andes, that would be enough. But the Peruvian league has decided to follow this up with a sort of playoff system.

The difference with this playoff is that everybody qualifies: the teams which finish in odd positions (first, third, fifth etc) go into one group while those finishing in an even position will go into another. (Fortunately, the teams carry through their points total to the group stage, otherwise the initial phase would have been merely an academic exercise).

The winners of each group then meet in an end-of-season final. Apparently, the motive for the change was the wish to have a final and to stop a team running away with the title with several rounds of matches to spare.

The downside is that a team could find themselves having to play a two-leg final against opponents who accumulated far fewer points over the regular season.

Nolberto Solano has just returned home after 12 years playing abroad in Argentina, Greece and England. He must be wondering what has hit him.

Next time we’ll look at Uruguay.

For more blogs on other sports than soccer, check out http://blogs.reuters.com/sport

Has anything like this ever happened in football before?

Deportivo San Martin will win the Peruvian championship on Sunday if they lose their final game of the regular season. But if they win the match, they could have to face Universitario in a two-leg playoff.

This odd and unfortunate situation has arisen thanks to the weird and wonderful format used for the championship. (more…)

For the last year, Brazilian club Flamengo have led an almost obsessive campaign for a ban on matches at high altitude. Following a match away to Bolivian side Real Potosi at 4,000 metres above sea level in the Libertadores Cup, club president Marcio Braga has gone on the warpath describing high altitude games as “inhumane” and comparing them to a form of doping for the home team.

Braga has taken his case to FIFA, the Court of Arbitration for Sport and even the United Nations human rights commission — all without success. Although FIFA has effectively banned World Cup qualifiers above 2,750 metres, the South American Football Confederation has refused to follow suit for the Libertadores.

So it was with great trepidation that Flamengo on Wednesday visited Cienciano at 3,300 metres in the Peruvian Andes, with the added worry that their campaign had understandably antagonised the locals. But their fears proved unfounded. Flamengo ran out comfortable 3-0 winners, even bettering their 2-1 win over the same opponents at the Maracana earlier in the group.

So what was the big fuss about? Recent results suggest that altitude does not really offer anything more than a small advantage to the home team, rather similar to playing on a bumpy pitch or in weather which the visitors are unused to. In the last World Cup qualifying competition, for example, Bolivia managed four wins, two draws and three defeats in La Paz.

It also begs the question: are Brazilian clubs and the media, which has helped stoke up public opinion, being hypocritical?

Writing on the BBC’s web site this week, correspondent Tim Vickery argues that they are. Vickery points out that, while Brazilian teams make a big song and dance about the players’ health being paramount, there is not a whisper from them when their own federation, in agreement with local television stations, schedules domestic games to be played in mid-afternoon in high summer.

When Brazil needed local backing for their 2014 World Cup bid, the Brazilian confederation kept quiet about the altitude issue. But when the South American federation last week asked FIFA to reconsider the 2,750 limit which had been reinstated, Brazil was the only country which refused to sign the declaration.

Until FIFA considers banning matches in other extreme conditions, it will be hard not to sympathise with the likes of Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru.

Brian Homewood, Rio de Janeiro