Argentina has qualified for the last 16 with some style but group opponents South Korea, Nigeria and Greece may not be the best test of their World Cup title credentials.
Coach Diego Maradona admits as much as he prepares now for an encounter with Mexico on Saturday in Port Elizabeth.
The 2-0 win over Greece showed, however, that Argentina can break down a team intent on mass defence, even if the goals from Martin Demichelis and substitute Martin Palermo came late.
It gave Argentina maximum points from Group B ahead of South Korea who clinched second place thanks to their 2-2 draw with Nigeria.
Lionel Messi again failed to get on the scoresheet but the Barcelona striker did enough to earn the man-of-the-match award and showed that the tactic of man-marking him is almost impossible to maintain for the full 90 minutes.
Maradona has warned his side to expect tougher tests now as the World Cup becomes enters the last 16 – from now on it is a winner take all clash and there are no second chances.
“When the road becomes more narrower I think the hierarchy becomes clearer. Italy, Germany, Brazil may be playing badly at the beginning but then they go on to the second round, quarter-finals, semi-finals, final,” he said.
Maradona played virtually a reserve side in Polokwane against Greece, with only four players retained from the starting line-up against South Korea.
But the quality of their squad meant he could rest players like captain Javier Mascherano, forward Carlos Tevez and hat-trick hero from the South Korea game Gonzalo Higuain.
Instead he had strikers of the class of Inter Milan’s Diego Milito and Atletico Madrid’s Sergio Aguero starting — and the irrepressible Messi for the first time leading the team as captain.
“It was a unique experience, something very special,” said Messi, who — turns 23 on Thursday — became the country’s youngest-ever skipper.
Messi was closely followed around the Peter Mokaba Stadium park by Sokratis Papastathopoulos and was none too happy by the attention paid to him.
“The referee was on their side. They played dirty,” he said in a complaint about what he saw as heavy-handed Greek tactics.
