Your what in your hands, Carlitos?

''Playing like that, we'll win more matches''; ''We're still dependent on ourselves''; ''We're going to have our arses in our hands.'' Three members of the Argentine national side all - more or less - agreeing.

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Diego Maradona and Carlos Tevez are in sombre mood after defeat to Ecuador

The first quoted is Mariano Andújar, the Estudiantes de La Plata goalkeeper who, in the latest World Cup qualification double-header, has been Diego Maradona's first choice. The second is Javier Zanetti, and the third, displaying all the eloquence he's famed for, is Carlos Tevez.

The words we really want to know now, of course, are those Diego Maradona is going to say to his players when Argentina meet up in September for their next qualifier. The 2-0 loss to Ecuador in Quito on Wednesday night, even if it was undeserved after a performance which was a huge improvement on certain recent displays, leaves Argentina without room for error.

Brazil - Argentina's next opponents - beat Paraguay (first vs second when the match kicked-off), and Chile now sit between the two, but Maradona's boys once again gave us the headline performance of the international break, and again it's for the wrong reasons.

Last September, Dunga's position as Brazil manager was as precarious as Alfio Basile's for Argentina. What a difference nine months make. Basile left, Dunga stayed, and whilst Argentina are still floundering around trying to keep their heads above the water Brazil have stabilised, rediscovered their confidence and now top the group.

Three straight wins is an impressive enough run, but the vanquished sides in these two recent matches were no minor scalps: away to Uruguay, where they hadn't won since 1976, they ran out 4-0 winners with Kaká among the scorers from the penalty spot. They then beat Paraguay, who've led the South American group from the off in an impressive campaign, 2-1 in Recife with goals from Nilmar and Robinho.

Before moving on to Argentina though, it's worth reminding ourselves of Brazil's first competitive match of the year. It was away, and they were outplayed to a staggering degree, but somehow came away with a 1-1 draw. They were visiting Ecuador.

In that context, Argentina's result on Wednesday night looks less embarrassing. In whatever context, it's not on the same level as the humiliation visited on them by Bolivia in La Paz on April Fools' Day.

For the record, Argentina played an intelligent first half, keeping the ball, clearly more aware this time of the effects of running around a lot at altitude, and were unlucky not to go in at least one goal to the good at half time. When Ecuador's Argentine-born goalkeeper Marcelo Elizaga took Carlos Tevez out he should have seen red, but was only booked and saved Tevez's subsequent penalty. A little later, Lionel Messi just misjudged a shot as Elizaga came out.

The worry for Argentina is that for all their dominance, and hard work as the altitude sapped their energy in the second half, Ecuador's opener with 19 minutes left - a vicious shot across goal into the top corner from Walter Ayoví - left them clueless. They had no comeback, and conceded again twelve minutes later. They're now only two points ahead of fifth-placed (and therefore playoff-poised) Ecuador.

Had Uruguay won rather than drawn with Venezuela later that night, they'd have been level with Ecuador, hot on their neighbours' heels.

It wasn't an historic defeat, nor an unmitigated disaster. It was a slip-up in a match which had been a tricky fixture all along, and though Ecuador scored twice they had hardly any real chances. It's taken on enormous significance, though, due to Argentina's terrible form in this qualification process.

''The Argentine selección is not a team,'' is how the match report on the website of sports monthly El Gráfico sees it. Zanetti disagrees: ''We can continue playing well, and if so we'll qualify without any need to worry.'' To guarantee participation in South Africa, they have to claim eight points to avoid the ignominy of 6th place and a total failure to qualify.

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Dunga celebrates another Brazil win in some fetching leisure-wear...

They've got to get those points from tricky fixtures, though: their next match is at home to Brazil, followed days later by a trip to Paraguay. Win both of those and, if Uruguay and Ecuador slip-up, they could qualify. That's a huge ask, though, and their closing double-header isn't one they want to be relying on: a virtually certain win against rock-bottom Peru is one thing, but it's followed by a trip to Montevideo.

If there's anything riding on that match with bitter rivals Uruguay, the short journey across the Río de la Plata could be very uncomfortable.

Hope for the Brazil match comes from the fact that the seleção rarely do well in Buenos Aires - and against any opposition Argentina have only lost one home World Cup qualifier in their history, the amazing 5-0 capitulation to Carlos Valderrama-inspired Colombia back in 1993.

All the same, World Cup-winning captain Dunga will be hopeful of inflicting some more misery on World Cup-winning captain Maradona. If Brazil win, Maradona might be tempted to step aside and allow his current 'assistant' Carlos Bilardo (boss of the 1986 side) to guide the team through the last three qualifiers. Stranger things have happened.

One thing that will surely be better for the Brazil game than it was on Saturday for Colombia's most recent visit to Argentina is the pitch. Days previously River Plate, who own El Monumental, Argentina's only FIFA-recognised venue for internationals, allowed Los Piojos, one of the country's most popular rock bands, to perform there and the playing surface would have embarrassed even the folk who run Wembley.

Two days before the match the Argentine FA took the extraordinary step to have parts of the pitch painted green so that at least it wouldn't look quite so bad.

No amount of paint can disguise Argentina's position at the moment though. It's in their own hands, sure, but if we're listening to how Carlos Tevez puts it, maybe the contents of those hands need a good kick.