ARGENTINA : WORLD CUP HISTORY

While Argentina is considered one of the world's soccer powers, the South American side has underachieved since scrapping to a second-place finish at Italia '90. Its recent best showing was at France '98. The 1978 and 1986 titles were well deserved, but had the Argentines defeated Germany in 1990, observers agreed it would have set soccer back for years because of the physical, defensive style the team played.

The Argentines lost 4-2 to bitter archrivals Uruguay in the first championship match in 1930. It took thirty-six years before they got past the first round again, losing to eventual champion England in the quarterfinals in 1966.

The Argentines, embarrassed by the Diego Maradona drug scandal at the end of the opening round, were eliminated in the second round of USA '94, their second-worst finish when the World Cup has been played in the Americas. They rebounded at France '98, outlasting England in the second round before meeting their ultimate fate in another classic confrontation, a 2-1 last-minute lost to the Netherlands in the quarterfinals.

Touted by many as a championship contender in 2002, Argentina fell woefully short, getting ousted in the first round in what many observers considered the Group of Death (England, Sweden and Nigeria).