Coach Marcelo Bielsa's team won the 10-nation regional qualifiers for 2002 at a canter and travelled to Japan for Asia's first finals last year as favourites.
They are not favourites for anything now, not even with the disillusioned Argentina fans, and Bielsa may be prepared to change his tactics in the qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup.
"A new group is taking shape, with players with new styles," Crespo said in an interview with Reuters.
"The style of play, (the coach's) intention is the same. (But) suddenly we have to play a match with two link-men like (Andres) D'Alessandro and (Pablo) Aimar and that has not happened to us before.
"People are always going to want Argentina to play better," added Crespo, thinking back to Argentina's last qualifier, a disappointing 1-1 draw away to Colombia on November 19 in which he scored the game's opening goal.
Crespo, Argentina's first-choice central striker since the retirement last year of Gabriel Batistuta, is carrying on where he left off in the previous qualifiers when he top-scored with nine goals.
He has scored three in four South American qualifiers so far with Argentina notching up eight points, equal to Brazil and one behind leaders Paraguay.
TOUGH CAMPAIGN
"Perhaps the way we played against Colombia was the most removed from that new version," said Crespo, who with 21 goals has averaged one every two games in 42 internationals since his 1995 debut.
The reason was the nature of the qualifying fixtures, he said. All the games were spaced out approximately a month apart in the 2002 qualifiers but now they have been arranged mostly in pairs four days apart.
"Our preparation for playing Colombia amounted to just one practice," he said.
Argentina played Bolivia in Buenos Aires on the Saturday, November 15, winning 3-0. They rested on the Sunday, travelled to the hot Caribbean port of Barranquilla on the Monday and did light training on the Tuesday ahead of the Wednesday match.
"You have to change because you can't field the same team that played (against Bolivia), it's very hard to keep your energy.
"The way Argentina play, you spend a lot of energy, constantly pressing, constantly creating.
"It's difficult to maintain the pace of the previous qualifiers, knowing that we are superior because I'm convinced Argentina are superior to Colombia but couldn't show it in that match."
HOME PULL
Crespo would go anywhere and do anything to wear the Argentina shirt.
"You're far from home, I put the Argentina shirt on, it's the flag, which you're going to defend and that makes you proud, a feeling that goes beyond everything. You can bear anything... You do it with your heart."
Playing for Argentina helped to lessen his homesickness, he said.
Crespo said he did not rule out an eventual return to his first club River Plate, the one he supports unconditionally and which he helped to win the South American club title as a 21-year-old in 1996 before his $4-million transfer to Parma.
"You always miss it. My last match was the Libertadores Cup final, that famous match of the 2-0 score and my two goals. I was left with the thorn of not carrying on," he said, hinting at a slight regret at that time that he was leaving.
"On the other hand, I think I left a good image (of myself).
"The truth is that I'd like to return to River, sincerely. But today it looks difficult for many reasons that are more than obvious.
"I don't know if I'd be in the right psychological condition to, for example, be sitting here talking to you and leave my car outside the door," he said.
Argentina is trying to recover from its worst economic crisis, two years ago. Crime is rife, especially robbery and kidnappings, which have affected footballers.
"When I left that didn't happen. I think I lived in the last great period, I left in '96, I think the mess started around '99.
"It hurts me immensely, immensely. I thought it was terrible two years ago but I think that slowly, slowly, it's getting better."
