analysis This Argentina team has yet to be given a manager that matches their extensive talents

They all bore the same message: “come back Diego.” Eight days later, as Uruguay were celebrating winning the final, and supporters were congregating back home on the Montevideo sea front, the Argentine FA and Sergio Batista came to an agreement, and the manager rescinded his contract.

He suffered the consequences of his own fallibilities, but also those of his predecessors. A sense of agitation has built up around the national team, the disquiet shaped by the great array of talent that this generation possesses as much as the inability of each manager to make the most of these resources.

Lionel Messi, Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero, Gonzalo Higuain, Esteban Cambiasso, Angel di Maria, Javier Mascherano; they all played in the Copa, and the team’s failure seems like a betrayal of them.

It has become the way in Argentina that the national coach cannot survive the potential brilliance of these footballers being left unfulfilled. Batista was the country’s fourth manager in five years, but the underachievement stretches back to 1993, the last time that Argentina won a senior international tournament.

The pining for Maradona stems not from his reputation as a manager -- which remains deeply flawed -- but his symbolism; he still represents the last glories of Argentine football.

The nation’s angst, already stirred by the relegation of an iconic club in River Plate, has found two expressions: the wonder why Messi does not perform with such virtuosity and inhibition as he does for Barcelona, and why is it impossible to find a manager who is as exceptional as the players.

Now, as the AFA seek yet another leader to impose order and purpose on this sublime squad, there is also the worry that the team will not qualify for the 2014 World Cup in neighbouring Brazil.

The Copa emphasised the growing stature of sides once considered little more than fodder by the leading South American nations. Four teams qualify from the nine-strong Conmebol group -- Brazil are already through as hosts -- but Uruguay, Chile and Colombia were at times eclipsed by Paraguay and Peru, while even Bolivia and Ecuador impressed on occasion. So in the aftermath of the Copa, which Argentina hosted, the self-analysis has become charged with a greater urgency.

“You could look at how Argentina have lost their way since the days of [Jose] Pekerman -- when he was in charge of all the youth sides and the system was organic and allowed players to come through knowing what style they needed to play when they reached the full side,” says Daniel Colasimone, a sports writer based in Argentina. “Since he was kicked out in 2006 there has been no overall plan. The national team never seems to know how they should play, there is no continuity.”

Yet there is a pressure in performing for their country that many of the players do not face at club level. In particular, the adulation of Messi is tempered compared to Europe. Back home, there is an ambivalent edge to the appreciation, because he is considered less emotionally attached to the national cause than Maradona, who acclaimed his brilliance by winning the World Cup in 1986 and who always considered the fortunes of his country to be his personal responsibility (which was also a measure of his ego).

Leaving Argentina to join Barcelona at an early age was a form of estrangement for Messi, and many of his compatriots believe that he reserves his best for his club. Yet it is a view disrupted by the fear that he might turn his back on his country. He plays under a “terrible pressure” for the national side, says his father, Jorge. The team, though, recognise how integral he is.

“There was one alleged incident during the game against Colombia where [Nicolas] Burdisso supposedly yelled at Messi to put more effort in,” says Colasimone. “But in general the players seem happy to sacrifice themselves to ensure he is most comfortable in the formation. One important factor was Batista shoe-horning Tevez into the team. Tevez is immensely popular in Argentina and Batista succumbed to public pressure. Yet he had a horrible tournament.”

Argentina are in a dilemma: who can rise to the challenge of inspiring and leading this group of players? No national team can call upon the same attacking riches, but it has come to seem like a burden. The country is brooding over the predicament.

“Both Maradona and Batista didn’t have a clue tactically,” says Sam Kelly, who co-hosts the Hand Of Pod podcast on South American football. “They only seemed to come up with starting formations that got something like the best out of Lionel Messi by accident.”

It is the misfortune of Argentine football, this absence of a great managerial figure.