That was followed by quarter-final defeats against Brazil at the 1995 and 1999 Copa America tournaments and a quarter-final exit at the 1998 World Cup against Netherlands.

At the 2002 World Cup, Argentina amazingly fell at the first hurdle, losing to England -- another of their bitterest rivals -- on the way.

That was followed by successive final defeats to Brazil at the 2004 Copa America final and the 2005 Confederations Cup.

To cap it all, Argentina went out of last year's World Cup at the quarter-final stage after losing to hosts Germany on penalties -- having dominated much of the game and scoring first in a 1-1 draw.

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