Diego Maradona's Argentina have a difficulty with height. That much was plain when they travelled to Bolivia, where the cities are located close to the ozone layer, and let in six goals earlier this year during the qualifying campaign for the World Cup. Most visitors struggle with the altitude in La Paz, the Bolivian capital, but this was a spectacular defeat.
It raised a number of questions about the appointment of Maradona, a man with little management experience and a notorious history of mismanaging his own body and mind. Some Argentinians worry about the team's height. Maradona can call on a gifted set of players as he sifts through his attacking options for the remaining qualifiers, starting with Brazil today, and, he hopes, for the finals in South Africa.
Three of his favourite strikers share many qualities, but one feature Leo Messi, Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez have in common is that they stand well under six foot. Maradona, the midget genius of world football in the 1980s, would be last man to reckon on that being a disadvantage, but this evening's assignment may exaggerate limitations. Brazil taking on Argentina in the last third of 2009 looks, on paper, like a clash not only of South American football's fiercest rivals but also a clash of different species: Little versus large.
Brazil have added some inches to their game under Dunga, a head coach who certainly made his physical presence felt as a player and captain. At the Confederations Cup, a victorious Brazil made their corporeal bearing count. Felipe Melo, the athletic central midfielder, made a strong impression, and Juventus promptly hired him. In South Africa, Brazil were forceful in the opposition penalty box attacking set-pieces and crosses and the spine of Dunga's team is muscular, through Lucio in central defence, to Gilberto Silva and Felipe Melo.
Kaka, the upright playmaker from Real Madrid, is no pushover either. Maradona would also have us note that Brazil's last line of defence is as formidable any part of their game. "In my opinion Brazil have the best goalkeeper in the world in Julio Cesar," the Argentina coach said. "It's no longer the case that Brazilian goalkeepers are the weak link in their teams. The team are solid, too, just like Dunga was on the field."
"Tradition says that Brazil have the flair, Argentina the strength," noted Maradona, "but that is not always the case." To add balance to his squad Maradona made one very surprising selection, recalling, after a nine-year absence, Martin Palermo, the bustling 35-year-old striker. Palermo will never dribble like Messi, nor harry like Tevez, nor zip through a defence like Aguero. But he might leave more bruises on his opponent, jostling with a centre-half.
It is the moment for Argentinian pragmatism too. With four qualifying matches to go, Brazil, top of the table, lead Maradona's squad in the nine-team group by five points. The key distance, though, is the gap between fourth place - Argentina sit there, below Chile and Paraguay - and fifth. Only the top four countries qualify for South Africa automatically, and the fifth-placed team will have to play-off against a candidate from the North and Central American zone.
Lose at home against Brazil, and Maradona's team could find themselves on an awkward precipice. They could drop to fifth. Which could, concievably, mean a World Cup without Messi, the man likely to scoop all the game's major individual prizes for 2009. That still seems unlikely, though Argentina have to be careful. They have to watch out for being outjumped, for giving too much away in terms of height.
And Maradona needs to beware the long drop down from the heightened expectations that first accompanied his appointment. ihawkey@thenational.ae
