Bear in mind that I'm an ignorant American but how is what they did "cheating"? Sounds like they were running out the clock as in American football. Thanks.
Yes, Argentina was doing the soccer version of the "Prevent Defense." And as we all know the only thing that it prevents is winning.
Faking injury is not allowed and is bad form. If you want to run out the clock, try to pass the ball around the defense or something like that instead.
Diving in order to get a penalty is also cheating.
That said, Ballack did the same thing in the Argentinian box.