Diego slams Scotland hopes

Maxi Rodriquez finished off a wonderful passing move in the eighth minute as Maradona claimed a 1-0 victory at Hampden Park in his first match in charge of Argentina.

Scotland have some work to do to reach South Africa in 2010 as first place in their group already looks beyond them - unless they can pull off a shock result in Amsterdam in their next qualifier in March.

"Scotland are a fine side, they have good players but we had a different level of skill," said Maradona, when asked if Scotland could reach the finals. "They have a chance but if they want to do that, then they will have to raise their game. It will be difficult."

John Toshack praised skipper Craig Bellamy after the West Ham striker scored the winner in the 1-0 win in Denmark last night. He said: "Craig turned in a magnificent performance, a real captain's display."

Elsewhere, second-half goals from Sandor Torghelle and Fulham's Zoltan Gera gave Hungary a 2-0 victory over Northern Ireland in difficult conditions at Windsor Park and Giovanni Trapattoni tasted his first defeat as Republic of Ireland boss in the 3-2 loss to Poland at Croke Park.