Wallabies great John Eales expects Argentina to make history by upsetting South Africa to reach the Rugby World final.

Eales believes the Pumas' style of play will frustrate the Springboks and the team that started the tournament with a shock victory over the hosts France can cause another boilover in their semi on Monday.

"I think the Latino dream will continue another couple of weeks," said Eales, who was a member of the side that won the World Cup in 1991 and captained the 1999 side that repeated that feat.

"The basics of the team are good, they have frustrated many teams so far.

"You can't discount them (after) winning the match at the start (against France) and if you play 10 times you might win two or three so this might be one of those two or three."

Eales equated the state of Argentinian rugby to how it was in Australia in 1991 and he backed calls for their inclusion in a major annual tournament like the Tri Nations and Six Nations.

"This has been a really important World Cup for them," he said.

"What I like is the way they've done it.

"They've said 'we've got the opportunity to prove ourselves' and they've gone and done it.

"It looks like they're having fun out there. You can't underestimate them. They're not that much different to Australia at the 1991 World Cup where we put rugby on the agenda (in Australia).

"What I hear about Argentina, is that it's similar there at the moment. Even a football game got moved to a different time.

"The interest is huge and it has to be capitalised on. This is them crying out for a platform and we must give them a platform tobuild on."

For Eales the general performances of the 'minnows' at the tournament has persuaded him to rethink whether it should be reduced to 16 for the next edition in New Zealand in 2011.

"If you have regular opportunity to test and engage yourself with the best in the world it will lift the playing level and I think that that is what we have seen in the World Cup," said Eales.

"Prior to the World Cup I was sceptical that 20 was too many teams and could have been reduced down to 16, but they way the teams have played I think it has been great."