It's a funny old game this one. Most of the talk is about incidents that happened between 20 and 45 years ago and they have little to do with Scotland. Terry Butcher appeared to want to talk about today’s match but inevitably was asked about ’86 and the Hand of God. Butcher gave an honest answer as could only be expected of him. Maradona delighted many Scots with his response. It looked as if he was describing the biggest fish he'd ever caught, but in fact it was the distance by which he claims the ball failed to cross the line for England's third goal in the final of '66.

But ask yourself this. Imagine if at the Germany v England game, Capello and the players spent most of their time at the press conference talking about Scotland. Nah, just wouldn’t happen. Has there ever been a game where more has been said about irrelevant incidents in the past? Tonight's game appears to be little more than a sideshow starring one of the managers.

Granted that Scots are still keen to revel in a blatant act of cheating from over twenty years ago, which is ironic when so much time is spent criticising foreigners for diving and feigning injury, but it is evident from the accents that a fair number of the journalists asking questions in Glasgow about the Hand of God are English. Obviously they have little interest in the outcome of today’s game. Scots are often said to cry over Argentina but has England ever recovered?

Anyway, to the game itself. The Scottish press may also have their reasons for deflecting attention away from the present. Little wonder as the Scotland squad does not make for great viewing. There have been several high profile call offs. And when I heard that Miller and Robertson had been drafted into the squad this week, I thought we must be talking rugby. I had no idea what players were being referred to. I don’t think Lee Miller is even Scotland class but hopefully he will prove me wrong and do what his Pittodrie predecessor Stuart McKimmie did in a warm up for the 1990 World Cup - score the winner against Argentina. This win over the then World Champions provided the footballing historians among us to bring up the subject of Wembley ´67 once again.

On that historical note, it’s surprising that Scotland go into this game with an even head to head record against Argentina, albeit all games have been friendlies. The sides met twice in the seventies. Scotland drew 1-1 with Argentina in Buenos Aires on a South American tour in 1977, which was controversial for other reasons. I will be covering this in my current book,Countries of the World.

Two years later, Argentina came to Hampden and Diego scored his first goal for his country in a 3-1 victory for the South Americans on a sizzling June afternoon in Glasgow in front of over 60,000 fans. Scotland coach George Burley played in the game as did Alan Hansen. Read the latter’s memories of the game here.

With Messi absent the recent appointment of Maradona was a godsend for the media and the SFA, and should ensure a decent if not sell-out crown in spite of complaints about the ticket prices. I have to agree with Gordon Smith that a top price of thirty five pounds doesn’t seem excessive when you consider the quality in Argentina’s entirely Euro-based squad: five based in Madrid (Gago and Heinz from Real, Díaz from Getafe, Maxi Rodríguez from Atlético along with the star attraction in Messi’s absence – Kun Agüero), two defenders from Inter Milan (Burdisso and Zanetti), two from Bayern Munich (Demichelis, Sosa), and two forwards from Napoli (Denis and Lavezzi). The latter is not unlike Messi at times. Lavezzi could certainly destroy Scotland if he is given space.

There are four English based players: Jonas Gutierrez and Coloccini (Newcastle), Mascherano (Liverpool) and Tevez (Man U.), and three from Portugal - González and Lopéz from Porto and Di María from Benfica. The goalkeepers available are Carrizo(Lazio)and Romero(Alkmaar).

Stiff opposition for a squad that includes numerous players from average SPL and Championship clubs. It is difficult to see more than one outcome, especially with Scotland’s dire record in home friendlies in recent years. Scotland have to win one sometime, but it couldn’t be this one, could it?