Argentina moved straight into cruise control at the World Cup on Friday, pasting Serbia & Montenegro 6-0 with an awesome display of pace and precision passing.
Updated at 8.50 pm
Argentina 6 (Maxi Rodriguez, 6, 41; Esteban Cambiasso, 31, Hernan Crespo, 78, Carlos Tevez, 84, Lionel Messi, 88); Serbia & Montenegro 0
Red card: Mateja Kezman 65 (Serbia & Montenegro)
GELSENKIRCHEN: Argentina moved straight into cruise control at the World Cup on Friday, pasting Serbia & Montenegro 6-0 with an awesome display of pace and precision passing.
Argentina were 3-0 up at half-time with midfielder Maxi Rodriguez netting twice either side of the goal of the tournament so far, scored by substitute Esteban Cambiasso after a mesmerising wave of 24 passes.
Striker Hernan Crespo added a fourth in the 78th minute after Serbian striker Mateja Kezman was sent off for a lunging two-footed tackle and Carlos Tevez added the fifth six minutes later.
Argentina's 18-year-old prodigy Lionel Messi, making his World Cup debut as a second-half substitute, rounded off the scoring two minutes from time.
Argentina have six points from two games and look certain to qualify for the second round from Group C.
Serbia have lost their first two group games and face probable elimination.
Argentina striker Carlos Tevez praised a great team performance.
“When the team pulls together like that you get results,” said Tevez. “It was really nice to see the combination play. It is an honour to play with so many great players.”
Tevez came on to score a fine individual goal to make it 5-0 after 84 minutes shortly before fellow substitute Lionel Messi added their sixth in a scintillating Argentina performance.
Two-goal Maxi Rodriguez added, “It was an incredible performance. But we have to win the next game too. Our aim now is to beat the Netherlands and get the most points possible.”
Dejected Serbia & Montenegro coach Ilija Petkovic described the defeat as “one of the worst in our football history. New generations will speak about this result.
“Our opponents were better in every part of the game and they deserve a victory. That was a hard group.
“There was a lot of pressure from our media in the last few days but I can only say congratulations (to Argentina).”
“Now we have one more match against one more hard team and we will do all we can,” he added.
Argentina playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme was named Man of the Match by FIFA's Technical Study Group.
| Match stats |
Argentina |
Serbia |
| Shots (on goal) |
13 |
6 |
| Fouls |
12 |
19 |
| Corner kicks |
3 |
4 |
| Off-sides |
3 |
0 |
| Time of poss |
62% |
38% |
| Yellow card |
1 |
3 |
| Red card |
0 |
1 |
| Saves |
8 |
5 |
|
Teams
Argentina: Roberto Abbondanzieri, Nicolas Burdisso, Roberto Ayala, Gabriel Heinze, Juan Pablo Sorin (capt), Maxi Rodriguez, Javier Mascherano, Luis Gonzalez, Juan Riquelme, Javier Saviola, Hernan Crespo
Coach: Jose Pekerman
Serbia & Montenegro: Dragoslav Jevric, Igor Duljaj, Goran Gavrancic, Mladen Krstajic, Ivica Dragutinovic, Albert Nadj, Dejan Stankovic, Predrag Djordjevic, Ognjen Koroman Mateja Kezman, Savo Milosevic (capt)
Coach: Ilija Petkovic
Referee: Roberto Rosetti (Italy)
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