The white-and-blues’ painful 6-1 thrashing against Boliva, and a defeat by Ecuador have left qualification for South Africa 2010 far from being a certainty.

Within just a couple of hours after touching down in Moscow, Maradona and his players were already on the training pitch, as they prepare for Wednesday's clash, which Russia head coach, Guus Hiddink, says should be a competitive game.

Maradona has an almost full strength squad to choose from, with the likes of Leo Messi and Sergio Aguero amongst the party, and the only absentees being Carlos Tevez and Juan Sebastian Veron.

Maradona says he will look to play two different sides during the match, to give as many players a chance to play as possible.

Russia, meanwhile, will not be at full strength either. New Chelsea midfielder, Yury Zhirkov will miss out through injury, while Vladimir Bystrov also isn't fit, and Hiddink hasn't called up any replacements.

Guus Hiddink's side are actually two places above Argentina in the World Rankings, lying in sixth, and the Dutchman believes he can learn a lot from the game.

Although there is nothing at stake in Wednesday's friendly, the game will provide both managers with some valuable match practice ahead of what promises to be a hectic autumn, as both teams look to try and book their tickets to the World Cup in South Africa, in 2010.