Herzogenaurach (Germany): Argentina is missing only one thing at this World Cup - "un crack."
A "crack" is Spanish slang for a game-breaking player - a superstar like Ronaldinho, Thierry Henry or Diego Maradona, who led Argentina to its second World Cup title in 1986.
The Argentines had a star four years ago in Gabriel Batistuta - the country's all-time leading scorer with 56 goals - but it didn't matter.
Argentina was sent packing in the first round and it was treated as a national humiliation.
"What happened in Japan, the unfinished business, hopefully will spur us on," captain Juan Pablo Sorin said before Thursday's practice.
Sorin is one of only four players that coach Jose Pekerman has retained from the 2002 squad.
Roberto Ayala, Pablo Aimar and Hernan Crespo are the other three.
Pekerman is now trying to win with the youngsters he nurtured for a decade as the country's youth coach.
At a team dinner earlier this week, Argentina Football Federation president Julio Grondona called this team "stronger psychologically" than the 2002 version. But man-for-man, nobody has suggested this team is better.
"I don't want to get into comparisons with four years ago," Sorin added.
"We are aware of the pressure on us. Inside we are nervous, anxious to play and hungry for success."
Argentina will play its first match against Ivory Coast on Saturday, the toughest of the eight groups in the World Cup.
Any of the four teams - including Serbia-Montenegro and the Netherlands - could reach the second round.
"The first game is so, so important for us to win," striker Javier Saviola said.
Argentina's best hopes for a game-breaking player are 18-year-old Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona and 22-year-old Carlos Tevez of Brazilian champion Corinthians.
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Both have been called the next Maradona, but on Saturday they are likely to be substitutes behind Crespo and Saviola.
"If I get a chance, I hope I can come through and prove something," Tevez said earlier in the week.
Argentina was No 1 in FIFA's rankings going into the 2002 World Cup.
This time it is No 9, but expectations are still high.
Other Latin American teams like Mexico, Paraguay and Costa Rica might be satisfied making the quarter-finals, but for Argentina, only the final will do.
Five TV stations are giving live coverage to Argentina's training camp in southern Germany, and one - the station TyC - is broadcasting from 6 AM until 10 PM in Argentina time.
Jorge Valdano, the former sporting director of Real Madrid and a member on the '86 World Cup team, is playing down expectations.
"Brazil has at least five candidates that would fit on a list of the best 10 players in the world," Valdano said in an interview.
"Argentina probably doesn't have a single one despite the strong soccer culture. Brazil imposes its game on everybody," he added.
"It's a upbeat country - musical, party-going. And it shows in their soccer. Players enjoy themselves while they are playing. We play soccer like it's a duty, a question of national honor."
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