But while his squad was among the first to be revealed, his starting line-up for Argentina’s tournament opener against Nigeria on June 12^th won’t be so immediately apparent.

Argentina arrived in South Africa on Saturday and will not emerge from their University of Pretoria base for any warm-up matches despite not having played since a facile 5-0 win over Canada in Buenos Aires on May 24^th.

Argentina’s attacking prowess is undoubted. Real Madrid’s Gonzalo Higuain, Manchester City’s Carlos Tevez and Athletico Madrid’s Sergio Aguero – Maradona’s son-in-law – all featured against the hapless Canadians.

 

And superstar Lionel Messi, as well as Champions League final scorer Diego Milito must also be accommodated.

Tevez and Aguero both scored against Canada, Aguero almost immediately after coming on as a 70^th minute substitute.

But despite claiming that he knew his team and tactics back in March, when Argentina beat Germany 1-0 in Munich, Maradona now says: “The team will come out very few days before (the Nigeria match).”

And he added: “I have 23 wild cats prepared to leave their skins on the pitch. With each training session, it gets harder to decide.”