Argentina used to talk seriously of winning the World Cup.

Now the worry for the two-time champions is simply surviving the opener today in Hamburg against the Ivory Coast, probably the best of the five African entries.

Anything less than a victory in Group C could deflate the young team of coach Jose Pekerman, which is trying to make up for an embarrassing first-round exit four years ago in Japan.

“Let’s hope we start with a victory,” said captain Juan Pablo Sorin, one of only four hold overs from Japan. “The first game is the key and the most important thing is not to lose.”

Argentina is a great mystery. They played only one warmup game for the World Cup – a 2-0 victory over Angola on 30 May. The same line-up is likely to start against Ivory Coast with Serbia-Montenegro and Holland also waiting in the World Cup’s toughest group.

The Argentines have practised largely behind closed doors in southern Germany. The midfield is talented, led by Juan Ramon Riquelme – and the club is carrying six forwards with Hernan Crespo and Javier Saviola likely to start.

But any slip, and four young forwards are waiting to step in: Lionel Messi, 18, and Carlos Tevez, 22, are at the front of the line and both are billed as the “next Diego Maradona.”

Messi is recovering from a thigh injury. A year ago the Barcelona forward led Argentina to the World Youth Cup title.

They are joined by Rodrigo Palacio and Julio Cruz and together the four have fewer than 50 international appearances.

Argentina seems to have two main problems.

There’s no go-to player. The last was Maradona.

He last played for Argentina in 1994, when the team was upset in the round of 16 by Romania. In ‘98, Argentina were beaten by Holland in the quarter-finals, and then came the ouster in Asia.

The defense is also a question. Goalkeeper Roberto Abbondanzieri of Boca Juniors has many skeptics. Defender Gabriel Heinze missed most of last season nursing a knee injury with Manchester United. Sorin is an attacking defender, and Roberto Ayala and Nicolas Burdisso have their critics.

Argentina reached the final of the eight-team Confederations Cup last year in Germany, losing 4-1 to Brazil.

“We’ve already had the good fortune of playing a similar tournament in 2005,” Riquelme said. “We reached the final and I hope we can repeat it. We’re excited, and we need to make people back home happy.”

Ivory Coast should be feared. The Elephants were runners-up in the African Cup of Nations this year. The main threat up front is Didier Drogba of Chelsea, and the two key defenders are Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Eboue, who led Arsenal to the European Champions League final.

“Argentina have a number of other talented players, like Crespo and Messi, but we don’t fear them,” Toure said.

Defensive midfielder Didier Zokora, forward Bonaventure Kalou and striker Arouna Kone are also considered threats for coach Henri Michel.

This is a special generation of Ivorians since about half the roster trained at the ASEC academy, established in the early 1990s by former French international Jean-Marc Guillou. Toure called the team a “good mix” of players from the academy and elsewhere.

“We are not pretentious, but we will show there are a lot of talented players in Ivory Coast,” he said.