Diego Maradona rallied his players on the eve of their mouth-watering World Cup showdown with Germany by telling them that 40 million Argentinians are desperately willing them to succeed.
Maradona is looking to follow in the footsteps of Germany's Franz Beckenbauer by captaining and coaching his country to World Cup success having led Argentina to the title at Mexico 1986, the nation's second and last title.
"The Argentinian people depend on this team to be able to get up in the morning with a smile on their faces when bad things are happening," said Maradona, ahead of the quarter-final clash with Germany.
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Argentina are looking to avenge their 4-2 defeat to Germany on penalties four years ago in the quarter-finals when the hosts went on to finish third.
"I will tell them to do everything, they have to leave their lives on the pitch, behind them is an entire country who are really excited," said Maradona, who is hoping to add 2010 to Argentina's 1978 and 1986 World Cup wins.
His side's 100 percent record after four matches in South Africa has generated a wave of excitement in Argentina and Maradona shares the World Cup-winning dream.
"We are working towards that goal, we are not wizards, we don't have crystal balls, and we are not the smartest people in football," he said.
"We are working hard to progress, but we can't predict anything."
While Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger ignited a war of words between the two teams by branding Argentina as 'disrespectful', Maradona refused to get involved in the verbal battle.
"There is no need to talk about our opponents as our opponents have done about us. We are exclusively focused on our game," he said.
With five-times winners Brazil exiting the World Cup after their shock quarter-final defeat to Holland earlier Friday, Maradona said his old rivals' misery had no impact on Argentina.
"That is Brazil's problem, I am in another business," he said. "I have other things on my mind at the moment, the game against Germany is all I am thinking about.
"We are not candidates (to win), we are not the favourites, but to beat us, our opponents are going to have to play very well and leave everything on the pitch - including their skin.
"We know our opponents have always played well against Argentina, but if we keep the ball, they will have to run for a long time without even touching it. As I have said before, I respect all our opponents, but I don't fear anyone."
