Ironic very ironic.. especially when i read your ^^^^ post
I wonder if your post to me is actually a mirror reflection to what you just posted
As if Valdano & Burruchage where the light of the world before the WC ..
or how amazing Brown and co were @ the back
no they weren't the light of the world but beast who is messi playing alongside that is the light of the world? honestly? people around his age are generally a group of failures to deliver on immense youth potential (gago, collocinni and tevez are the biggest culprits) and the two generations (or one long one if you want) of players above him all have no idea how to win things at a national level. aguero is the only other exceptional player in this team (you can make a case for cambo but... see below)
maradona's team had at least been filtered through a world cup winning team (of '78, with '82 being the transitional tournament) so they had ideas of how to win. and then added to that maradona was made the focus of the team, and thus felt compelled to lead them to a win.
messi and his generation have really had no brushes with anyone who knows how to win at an international level (batigol and simeone were the last of the '93 copa side to be around and they retired in 2002) and only cambo of the current crop as well as zanetti, veron, riquelme and crespo have played alongside them - and they all endured years of failure to negate that (so perfectly crystallised in riquelme who will dominate the entirety of a tournament only to fall limp in the final).
and as if to compound the average players (esp. in defence and goal) and loser mentality, the management is a joke as well! messi is constantly not being made the focus on the team, too much is being expected of mascherano as a lone DM and too much time is being given to a workmanlike tevez rather than a genuinely exceptional (the only other top-class player) aguero.
if the management was right (as it was in '86, getting the best out of what they had and utilising maradona to the best possible level) then the average nature of the squad wouldn't even be that bad. but the management is so so wrong.
pekerman's argentina may have been bottlers but at least they had a style, an identity. all they needed to do was add a dash of messi (who hasn't been poisoned by their loser mentality) and tevez (who was still a promising kid then) and they could have achieved things. but pekerhead criminally underused messi and got dumped out of the world cup as a result. and since then they've struggled to recapture that form.
they can't decide on a manager, which is the first problem. they need to appoint a coach and stick with it (I suggest batista) and then they need to move on from the older players who just don't know how to win with argentina. finally they need to build a solid base. the defence needs to be capable and organised, there should be a double pivot, one of whom should be able to pass. and then in-front of them, you have attacking players. messi and aguero should be the focus. lisandro should be in there. pastore and de federico should be brought through.
it's really not a difficult task, they just seem determined to make a mess of it.
I just feel sorry for messi.