Argentina in danger of missing out on World Cup

Argentina stumbled again in World Cup qualifying, losing to Paraguay 1-0 in Asunsion on Wednesday night and falling out of the top four in the South American standings.

Nelson Valdez scored the winner in the 27th minute for Paraguay, which clinched its fourth straight World Cup appearance, joining Brazil as the second South American team to qualify.

This was Argentina's fourth defeat in its last five qualifiers since Diego Maradona took over as coach last November.  

However, the two-time champions' hopes of qualifying for South Africa are left hanging in balance after they slipped to fifth place.

A play-off for Argentina is still up for grabs, but with just two matches left to play, direct qualification seems out of their hands.

"As long as I have a drop of blood left, I will fight to get Argentina qualified," Maradona, who captained Argentina to its second World Cup title in 1986, was quoted as saying after the match.

"We're not out of the World Cup. I'm not afraid of criticism. I'm not afraid of anybody. I'm going to continue no matter who criticizes me."

But to put it bluntly, Argentina looked out of sorts and far from convincing.

Things got worse when veteran midfielder Juan Sebastien Veron, who recently won the Copa Libertadores with Estudiantes, was red-carded soon after the break.

The hosts, aware that a win would qualify them for the World Cup, gave the packed crwod at the Estadio Denfensores del Chaco enough reason to celebrate.

The only Argentine player to make any impression in the match was Barcelona's Lionel Messi.

But to their credit, the Paraguay defence marked the Barca forward well enough.

However, Messi almost produced an equaliser in the 70th minute but his shot went wide of the right hand post.

Eventually, that turned out to be Argentina's only genuine chance of equalising.