By Tim Vickery

The current side is struggling to emulate the success of Maradona's generation

After Pele bowed out of the World Cup, it took Brazil 24 years to win the trophy again.

Argentina are now going through a similar thing with Diego Maradona.

The great Number 10 continues to cast his shadow over the national team - and a very stumpy shadow it has become.

Maradona went along to watch Argentina in Tuesday night's game against Ecuador.

I was sitting close enough to guess that he may even weigh as much as both D'Alessandro and Aimar, the two slightly built playmakers of today's side.

"Aimar and D'Alessandro are in the starting line up," wrote a columnist in the sports daily Ol� on the morning of the Ecuador match.

"Riquelme, Tevez and Saviola are waiting on the bench. The last five stars who have brought the crowd to their feet are worth the price of admission."

Plenty obviously agreed. There was a last minute surge in ticket sales.

The crowd for the Ecuador game was appreciably bigger than for the previous World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Bolivia - and this time nobody went along just to boo.

Like it or not, the team was going to be compared with the one Maradona took to triumph in 1986 Tim Vickery

The five players mentioned have one key thing in common. None of them are associated with the 2002 World Cup flop.

Aimar is the only one to have played in the tournament, but did so at no damage to his reputation.

Argentina's shock early elimination in Japan was the failure of the first post-Maradona generation - the players who came up through the 1996 Olympics, showed promise in France 98 and were expected to deliver in Asia.

This helps explain why the Buenos Aires public turned against the team with such severity in the World Cup aftermath.

It is not simply that the team had been seen as the sole source of pride amid economic collapse.

It was also because, like it or not, the team was going to be compared with the one Maradona took to triumph in 1986.

For a while they promised. But when they were weighed they were found wanting.

Aimar (left) was one of the star attractions against Ecuador

As much as angry at the players, the crowd are angry at themselves for having believed.

I've been in the stadium for Argentina's home games in the current campaign.

All three have been fascinating affairs - both for the mood on the terraces and for the action on the field.

In the first, there was the class and dignity of Veron in the face of naked hostility.

In all three, there have been flashes of magic from youngsters such as Aimar and Cesar Delgado. And on Tuesday there was a typical show of persistence from Hernan Crespo.

The fans had Aimar and D'Alessandro from the start. They had Tevez from the interval and Riquelme soon after.

And they nearly had Saviola as well - the crowd were calling for him and getting on Crespo's back.

Everything Crespo has achieved is at least as much the result of hard work and self belief as natural talent.

He stood up to the barracking and won the game, latching on to D'Alessandro's pass and firing low into the corner with true centre forward's conviction.

Perhaps there is a message in Argentina's goal. Crespo and his generation may not be Maradona.