Deep into injury time in rain-sodden Buenos Aires last October, the Argentina coach was facing up to a 1-1 draw with Peru on the back of three straight defeats which would have raised the very real threat of the star-studded team failing to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

But few men have had as dramatic a relationship with the World Cup as Maradona, and sure enough, there was a twist in store.

Boca Juniors striker Martin Palermo, back in the national fold for the first time in a decade, tapped home in a packed penalty box to put Argentina 2-1 ahead. Maradona, never known for understatement, celebrated by skidding along the soaking turf on his ample belly.

Qualification was wrapped up with a win over great rivals Uruguay, something that looked a long way off after a series of setbacks in the marathon qualification campaign, not least when they were hammered 6-1 at extreme altitude in Bolivia.

In that game especially, Maradona the tactician was exposed. As 1978 World Cup winner Osvaldo Ardiles sees it, he has relied too much on personality in the past, and needs to find the right balance in South Africa.

He told Press Association Sport: "Last year all the qualifiers were torrid. Diego is a clever guy and he knows about football, I hope he has learned from the qualifiers. It was a big awakening for him as a manager.

"His coaching career had not been great, but up to his appointment as national coach his status had been god-like in Argentina. A lot of people said to him 'why are you taking such a big risk? Just carry on doing what you're doing'. He didn't need to become manager of Argentina, but he wanted to. He took it, and it has been very torrid so far.

"(Lionel) Messi, (Javier) Mascherano etc, when they were very young, Maradona was absolutely everything. It is very different if you have someone like Diego saying, 'look, you move a little bit to the right' than someone else saying it to you.

"Maybe in relying so much on that, he was a little bit slow in terms of tactical awareness. All the team have a very good relationship with him. It was the same when he was a player, he was a very popular captain. You will never find anyone who played with him who has a bad word to say about him."

His relationship with the back-room team has been one of conflict, however, with Maradona determined to bring in 1986 World Cup team-mate Oscar Ruggeri as an assistant and the Argentinian football association (AFA) objecting. There has also been friction with Carlos Bilardo, the coach of the side in 1986 and now team manager alongside head coach Maradona.

"It is a real love-hate thing," Ardiles admitted.

"That creates a lot of problems and it is not going to change right now. If anyone other than Maradona was leading the side, they would have changed the coach by now surely."

Key to Argentina's chances in South Africa will be Lionel Messi. He has been in scintillating form for Barcelona again but the concern is that the national team does not provide him with the right platform to perform to his peak, often asked to play in a much deeper role than the one he plays in to such great effect at Barcelona.

"When you have the best player in the world in your squad you are going to depend on him, Messi will be absolutely crucial." Ardiles added.

"If his form is good Argentina will surely be there or thereabouts. At the moment it is a bit like 1982 - we had Maradona in the team but we were not playing for him to reach the heights that he can reach and with Messi it is the same. We must choose the best players available and choose a team that is going to make not only Messi but all the other players play to their potential.

"It is without a doubt that he has a better supporting cast at Barcelona, in Barcelona he doesn't need to do everything, he has Xavi, (Andres) Iniesta and so on.

"When the ball comes to him he just needs to produce the magical touch. In Argentina in fact we have players who can do that like (Juan Sebastian) Veron, but we have not been doing that since Maradona took over. So when Messi has played for Argentina he has been playing nowhere near the way he plays for Barcelona."

Purely in terms of the quality of their squad Argentina should be among the very top bracket of favourites, but their unconvincing qualification campaign means they are rarely mentioned in the same breath as Brazil or Spain.

Ardiles believes that could work in their favour.

"I think Argentina's chances are pretty high to be honest," he said.

"One year and a half ago Argentina were ranked number one by FIFA, the team was brilliant, but there has been a big drop in form. So Argentina will not be considered one of the candidates - it will be Brazil, it will be Spain, so that could work for the benefit of Argentina.

"If the attacking players play well it will be almost impossible to defend against them, this is the main good point. The bad point is that the team are suspect at the back.

"When you analyse it you have to say that defensively we are not as good as the rest of the team. At the moment it is (Martin) Demichelis and he has been playing with different guys, people like (Nicolas) Otamendi."

:: Ossie Ardiles' autobiography, Ossie's Dream, is published by Bantam Press, £18.99