On the weekend of the International break decided to take a break from Anfield. Stayed up to watch the Brazil Argentina match. What a disaster for the Albicelestes! For Maradona in particular it must have felt like revisiting his "Canarinho uniform" nightmare in the Guarana Antartica soft drink ad. Only this time some of his team could have been wearing the green and gold. The Argentinian defence was more porous than your average Andes pumice stone.Their generous man marking allowing more grazing space to the Canarinhos than the Serengeti to the wilde beast. In short it was a sad spectacle as the Rosario went quiet after the first two Brazilian attacks were rewarded with goals.

At the time of writing Brazil had qualified from the CONMEBOL group inspite of playing unattractive "Dunga school" football. With just three games remaining Argentina is in danger of not qualifying for the first time since 1970. With Portugal looking likely to miss out as well it could be a strange World Cup without Messi and Ronaldo. Argentina now face an uphill struggle with the need for maximum points from two crucial away games at Paraguay and Uruguay. It won't be easy as both teams have displayed a compact defensive game and have let in less goals than Argentina. In this campaign, Argentina have shown alarming defensive frailties and inspite of a Messi in their attack an inability to find goals. Luisao's headed first goal last night would put even a Sunday league defense to shame.

Nothing has gone right for Maradona the coach since he took over the reins in October last year. The 6-1 defeat at La Paz must still rankle as one of the most humiliating. It was quickly followed by a 2-0 defeat to Ecuador in Quito. Losing to Brazil was Maradona's third defeat in the World Cup qualifiers. He cannot afford another one.

Where does the team go from here?

By his own admission, Maradona needs help in transforming his defence. Maybe thats why he has been insisting on getting erstwhile World cup winning team mate Ruggeri as a coaching staff- a request so far denied by the AFA. The sight of Gabriel Heinze and Sebastián Dominguez both marking Lúcio and leaving Luisão with acres of space to be free to score the opening goal highlighted the chronic level of disorganisation at the back.  Set piece defending is an obvious area that needs lot of work. One shudders at the prospect of Argentina meeting some of the set piece specialist teams like England.

Here again his decision to provide a 36 year old Schiavi his Argentinian debut call up was inexplicable. Add Xavier Zanetti to the pack and one might wonder why Simeone and sensini aren't there. With an average age of 29 it resembles a geriatric care home. The Argentinian defense desperately needs fresh young blood.

He needs to quickly correct some of his bizarre selection choices upfront. He has quarrelled with his only real playmaker Riquelme and so far turned a blind eye to the obvious talent of  Gonzalo Higuain-Real's top scorer in La liga. His choice of a vertically challenged trio of Messi, Tevez and Aguero is also baffling. Often disparaged by his critics as Maradona and his three other dwarves, his forward line really needs real strikers and height. Higuain should be an automatic choice here. Plus another tall striker who is good with the aerial ball and prepared to go physical. A mini Drogba or a Rooney would do just fine. Or may be Lisandro Lopez should be used as the striker of choice alongside Higuain.

Which brings me to the subject of Veron. Well he was no gazelle in his heyday and now at 34 he is a tad slower than your average ox-cart. Veron can't be the lynchpin of this midfield. I hope that Maradona has not burned his bridges with Riquelme.A little bit of humility and pragmatism might be on order here.

Despite all his ducking and weaving runs Messi is not as effective without  Xavi and Iniesta. Over and over again as he hit the brick wall of the brazilian back four but couldn't unlock it. This calls for a sparring partner for Messi- a role which can be filled by Higuain, with the fall back option of Milito.

The silver lining on an otherwise wretched night for Argentina was their attacking flair. On a night of disastrous defending, their attacks were still laced with danger. Datolo's thunderous strike was spectacular. The Napoli mid-fielder has been one of the rare successes of Maradona the coach.

70% of argentinians polled believe that Argentina will not make it to the finals in 2010. I am not that pessimistic. However unless radical changes are made the albicelestes could well suffer the fate of 1970. The first change should be re-instating Riquelme. He would be able to provide the leadership and rally the troops-something the Albicelestes desperately need in Asuncion on Wednesday.