Diego Maradona has blamed Argentina's dependence on midfield genius Juan Roman Riquelme for their early exit from the World Cup.

Argentina lost on penalties to hosts Germany in their quarter-final clash on Friday, and Maradona insists they would still be there if they had adapted a more flexible approach.

"It was not a bad World Cup for Riquelme," the World Cup winner told Argentinian TV station TyC Sports. "He played as he plays at Villarreal, without options and without changing the rhythm. Argentina was Riquelme-dependent because there's no other player that can do what he does but, as I said before the World Cup, Riquelme needed to practise speed to make the difference."