Argentina coach Diego Maradona wasn't keen on the friendly against Canada that formed part of the celebrations of his country's bicentenary.

He was worried that it might put an unnecessary strain on his players. The injury picked up by Maxi Rodriguez justified his concerns. But in all other aspects his team came away with plenty of positives from the comfortable 5-0 win.

After all the problems in qualification, Maradona seemed to have found his World Cup line-up in the 1-0 win away to Germany at the start of March. His team was as follows; Romero in goal, a back line of Otamendi, De Michelis, Samuel and Heinze, Gutierrez, Mascherano, Veron and Di Maria across the middle, with Messi and Higuain up front. Maradona even announced this as his selection for the World Cup opener against Nigeria on June 12th.

Too many centre backs

However, as far as the World Cup is concerned there are obvious problems with this team. It has a back four made up of centre backs - OK for soaking up pressure and launching the counter-attack away to the Germans, full of aggression on home soil. But how would it work against more cautious opponents? What would be the point of a line of four centre backs against teams only fielding one striker, such as Canada?

For this reason, the most significant change in the side that beat the Canadians was the shifting of Jonas Gutierrez to right back, providing his characteristic thrust from this position and making space for the introduction of Rodriguez in front of him.

It now seems clear that Gutierrez is the reason that Javier Zanetti has been omitted. The Newcastle man provides similar versatility - useful at right back or the right of midfield, capable of dropping in centrally to take some of the defensive strain from Veron - and, strong and full of running, he is a decade younger than the Inter Milan captain.

In the Canada game the other key experiments were the rest given to Lionel Messi and (in the first half) to Juan Sebastian Veron, and their respective replacement by Carlos Tevez and Javier Pastore.

Pastore for Veron is not a straight swap. As he showed winning the free kick for the first goal, Pastore does his best work higher up the field than Veron, who likes to sit deep and distribute. Argentina hardly suffered because Javier Mascherano is much more than his reputation as a midfield enforcer. Obliged to take more responsibility on the ball, his long range passing was impressive.

And Tevez succeeded in his mission to give Maradona a selection headache. The squat little striker has not been over impressed with the fact that Maradona had already named his first eleven for South Africa, and especially that he was not included. He is a man on a mission to change his coach's mind. Against Canada he provided a threat down the channels and worked hard - his pressure on the ball forced the poor Canadian clearance straight to Angel Di Maria, who took full advantage with a sumptuous finish to score the third goal.

Poor scoring record

Always hanging over the head of Tevez, though, is his disappointing scoring record at international level. Going into this game he had scored just eight goals in 53 senior appearances for his country.

That is why Argentina's second goal against the Canadians was so significant. Gonzalo Higuain broke through the defensive line with a superb burst of acceleration, suffered a foul but Tevez was on hand to continue the move. One on one with the last defender, he would have been entitled to take the shot. But in the heat of the moment, despite the pressure he is under to score goals, the Manchester City man rolled square for Rodriguez to drive home. It was the right option, and an admirably unselfish piece of play.

Tevez was rewarded in the second half, when international goal number nine was put on a plate for him by Higuain, who passed square when he could have shot. With Higuain himself under pressure from the club form of Diego Milito, these are impressive signs. The implication is that Maradona is forming a group mentality where players are prepared to put collective aims over individual achievement.

Argentina, then, can say goodbye to their home public with morale high, with tactical variations and a collection of players willing to work for each other. So often the World Cup has been won by a giant who looks wounded before the tournament - it was the case with Italy four years ago, with Brazil four years before that, and even with Argentina in 1986. Might it be their turn again in 2010?

There are reasons to doubt - they still look under strength in some areas. The defensive form of Mascherano will be vital. If he picks up cards and suspensions, they could be in trouble. But the message from the friendly against Canada is that Argentina travel to South Africa carrying the hope that, if winds blow their way, they can dream of bringing the cup back with them in mid-July.