Bielsa - lofty reputation (Allsport).

Argentina boss Marcelo Bielsa goes into the World Cup with a big reputation to live up to.

For last October he was named as the best coach in the world by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics, beating Sven-Goran Eriksson into second.

Admittedly their ratings did place an Under-21 coach ahead of all but four national managers, but the message is clear - Bielsa is a force to be reckoned with.

With the vast majority of his squad based overseas, Bielsa cannot follow Eriksson's lead in attending matches every day of the week.

Instead, he has built a reputation as an incredible student of videos - monitoring both his own players and the opposition for strengths and weaknesses.

Bielsa also has a reputation as something of a tinkerer - always changing his formation to seek successful solutions to problems.

His unusual 3-3-2-2 formation has earned him a good deal of criticism since he took charge of the national team as a virtual unknown in August 1999.

Back then he was the controversial replacement for Daniel Passarella as little was known about him.

He had never been a great player with Newells Old Boys and his coaching experience was relatively limited.

He had been in charge at Newells, Atlas, Club America, Velez Sarsfield and Espanyol when the national side came calling.

But 13 wins and four draws from 18 World Cup qualifying matches, with 42 goals scored along the way, have endeared 'El Loco' to the Argentinian fans.

One of his players, Juan Pablo Sorin, calls Bielsa "the most attack-minded coach in the world".

And the boss has promised his side will play the "beautiful game" as they seek their third World Cup title this summer.

If he can pull it off, his place in Argentinian football history will be assured.