June 16, 2006
NO CONTEST
Argentina crushes Serbia, 6-0

By Michael Lewis
BigAppleSoccer.com

Gelsenkirchen, Germany -- From his seat at Veltins Arena yesterday, Diego Maradona gave his approval of Argentina's virtuoso performance in its 6-0 demolition of Serbia & Montenegro.

He swirled a blue and white Argentine jersey over his head, as he and his countrymen serenaded the team with: "We're going to leave as champions, just like in '86."

Maradona led Argentina to its second world championship in 1986 with a performance and a few goals for the ages.

A new generation of Argentine players defined their version of excellence in the Group C match, combining teamwork and individual brilliance. Argentina booked a berth in the second round, thanks to the Netherlands' victory over the Ivory Coast.

"This was an incredible performance," said Maxi Rodriguez, who had two goals.

Indeed, it was. Argentina stole a few pages from Brazil’s book, moving the ball with precision one-touch passes and even a crowd-pleasing few back-heel passes.

"This was just an outstanding performance from an outstanding team full of outstanding individual players," wrote Gyorgy Mezey, a member of the FIFA technical committee. "The game was truly a joyful celebration of modern football."

It may be a bit premature to talk about a final between defending champion Brazil and Argentina -- no unlike last year's dress rehearsal for this competition -- the FIFA Confederation Cup -- though the Argentines certainly put their best feet forward to be considered a serious contender.

"We can't take this game as the final measure," coach Jose Pekerman cautioned.

Still, it was difficult to hide that the Argentines bolted to a 3-0 lead by the 41st minute against a team that had allowed but one goal in 10 qualifying matches.

"They are virtually untouchable," Serbia midfielder Albert Nadj said.

The Argentines made their first goal look simple with quick, first-touch passing in the Serbian end in which seven players touched the ball before it found its way into the back of the net. Junior Saviola finally sent a short pass to Maxi Rodriguez and he sent a low shot past goalkeeper Dragoslav Jevric for the first of his two goals only six minutes into the match.

Their second goal looked more Brazilian than Argentinean. Again, after a series of quick passes in which five players touch the ball, the Argentines struck in the 31st minute. Esteban Cambiasso, who replaced Luis Gonzalez in the 17th minute, finished another series of fine passes for a 2-0 bulge. This time it was Hernan Crespo performing some magic in front of the goal as he back-heeled a pass to Cambiasso, who finished with his left foot from seven yards.

The third goal was as pretty as the first two, but no one from Argetnina was complaining. On this one, Saviola ran onto a long ball down the right side. He pushed Mladen Krstajic off the ball with two hands in the corner. The assistant referee Craitiano Copelli (Italy) signaled to play on. Saviola then moved toward the goal and sent a shot that bounded off a Serbian player to Rodriguez, who banged ban the ball off the left post for a commanding 3-0 advantage in the 41st minute.

The Argentines played the final 25 minutes a man up after Serbia's Mateja Kezman was red-carded. Instead of putting in defensive help, they utilized a pair of young stars came off the bench to dazzle the crowd of 52,000.

Carlos Tevez, the outstanding player at the 2004 Athens Olympics, ran through two defenders to score a goal off sheer individual brilliance in the 84th minute. Lionel Messi, recovering from a leg injury, set up Crespo's 78th-minute goals and put one in himself in the 88th minute.

"Argentina will have a successful campaign in the World Cup," Serbia coach Ilija Petrovic said. "We'll see if we had a bad game today or that Argentina is a serious contender for the World Cup."

Petkovic tried to put the loss into perspective.

“This is a bad result,” he said. “This is the worst result in Yugoslav football.”

Then he took on at least one Serbian writer after he was asked his question.

“You reporters (have) criticized me so much lately,” he said. “You asked me so many questions that you know all the answers already.”