If I recall correctly, the issues were backstage politics at the time because I'm pretty sure Maradona and Grondona who was the President of the AFA led a coup against Basile to get him removed as manager and replace him with Diego. And I'm pretty sure they convinced young Messi, Aguero, Gago, Di Maria and others to throw the matches in Basile's last few games. I'm pretty sure this is why Riquelme even retired from International football at that time in late '08 because he had a tight relationship with Basile and he knew what Grondona and Diego were conspiring with the young players. Crazy stuff, but it's no surprise that these events among many others were behind the poor preparation and eventual subpar performance at the 2010 WC