Group C
Argentina 6, Serbia & Mont.
Argentina are cautiously eyeing the path ahead in the 2006 World Cup despite a dazzling display to secure qualification from Group C with a 6-0 humiliation of Serbia and Montenegro.
PHOTO: EPA
After their second game, the Argentinians emerged alongside Spain and the Czech Republic as the on-form sides in the tournament late Friday with a collective performance blending huge technical quality, speed, control and creative zest.
"This has practically assured qualification but no more than that," captain Juan Pablo Sorin said.
"We can celebrate victory, and by qualifying swiftly yet with caution it does remove the pressure we had in 2002. But the forthcoming games will be very tough, against the Netherlands and in the last eight too," he said.
Goals from Maxi Rodriguez (2), Esteban Cambiasso, Hernan Crespo, substitutes Carlos Tevez and Lionel Messi sealed the fate of an unsettled Serbia and Montenegro team which was a pale shadow of the incisive side that qualified for Germany with a virtually clean sheet.
"We were playing six-a-side football," said Chelsea's Crespo, who scored one and supplied Esteban Cambiasso with a glorious back-heeled pass after a fluid cross-field team effort for Argentina's third.
Argentinian coach Jose Pekerman also had the opportunity to display the huge range he has available in his squad.
Albeit with Serbia reduced to 10 men, his two second-half substitutes, Corinthians firebrand forward Tevez and teenage hope Messi, both left their imprint on the game by scoring high quality goals and helping to create other chances.
Yet, the players they were replacing -- notably the every dynamic Javier Saviola, who earned applause from his teammates when he went off in the 59th minute -- were hardly also-rans.
The injured Nemanja Vidic's absence from the center of the Serb defense might have limited the scoreline, but it would barely have affected Argentina's victory such was the breadth of the South Americans' control.
"It's an absolutely terrible result, the worst in our history, and I've got take responsibility for it. I did what I could but nothing worked," said Serb coach Ilja Petkovic, who tried a host of substitutions to stem the tide.
"I don't want to point the finger at any player in particular," Petkovic said.
Argentina's players also demonstrated the versatility prized by Pekerman, with midfielders turning into lethal goalscorers fed by forwards like Saviola and Crespo.
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