Montevideo, Uruguay:
Now that Argentina has squeaked into next year's World Cup, the question still remains whether Diego Maradona will be going with the team to South Africa.
Or will the man recognized as one of the world's greatest players be pushed aside, or resign as he threatened to do a week ago under mounting criticism over his coaching acumen.
Maradona probably did not help his case after Wednesday's 1-0 victory at Uruguay, letting loose with a string of crude profanities in a tirade on live television - much of it directed against reporters and his critics.
Last week he threatened to resign, then said later he was misquoted. Asked about it again after reaching the World Cup, he said he had to speak with Julio Grondona, the powerful, longtime head of the Argentine football federation.
It was Grondona who hired Maradona - he had virtually no coaching experience - almost a year ago despite a wealth Argentina talent.
Argentine Marcelo Bielsa coaches Chile, while countryman Gerardo Martino is in charge of Paraguay, and both countries qualified for the World Cup with ease.
Team leader and midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron was outspoken after the victory, and he offered little support to either Maradona or Grondona.
"There's nothing to celebrate. From Grondona on down, it's all bad," Veron said. "We suffered, we hung in there and in the end we were able to win, but we have much room for improvement. Now the coach can take the time he needs to correct what needs to be corrected, and put together a team for the World Cup."
Maradona shrugged off Veron's criticism and accused the media of "inventing" his confrontations with AFA technical secretary Carlos Bilardo, who coached him on Argentina's 1986 World Cup-winning squad in Mexico. Bilardo has tried to lend a guiding hand to Maradona behind the scenes.
"With Bilardo, we've never fought. We have to resolve a mountain of things," Maradona said.
Thursday's Argentine newspapers were still critical despite the victory.
"This is just a part of the story," Clarin said. "There's still a lot to do. The first thing was to beat Uruguay, but it was a poor game in which Argentina seemed content with a draw."
"If the way the team played yesterday was because it was an emergency, OK," Clarin added. "But if this is a long-term situation, we have problem."