Argentina underlined their World Cup threat on Friday with a 6-0 drubbing of Serbia-Montenegro, propelling them to near certain qualification from the "Group of Death".
Fuelled by an altogether more offensive display than against Ivory Coast, the Argentinians ripped the beleagured Serbs to shreds after responding to coach Jose Pekerman's call for more control of the game.
Two-goal star Maxi Rodriguez dubbed the outcome "incredible". "I am very happy - the team played fantastically," Rodriguez told Argentine television. "We were very fresh." After pressing the Serbia-Montenegro goal from the start, the Albicelestes took the lead in the sixth minute on just their third attempt on goal following two corners.
A flicked back heel by Juan Pablo Sorin on the left wing split open the Serb defence and found Saviola. Running into space, the Seville striker slotted through a diagonal pass to an unchallenged midfielder Rodriguez, who blasted the ball past the hapless Dragoslav Jevric.
Saviola once again laid claim to the man of the match award by running the Balkan defence ragged until he was replaced a third of the way into the second half by Carlos Tevez. As if to signal that Serbia-Montenegro was not in for a rest, on his first touch of the ball Tevez twisted past the attention of three Serb players, while Pekerman then brought on 18 year-old star Lionel Messi for his first World Cup appearance.
Porto Midfielder Luis Rodriguez was brought off in the 17th minute after a clash with a Serb player, seemingly thwarting Pekerman's bid for more bite on the right wing by bringing Esteban Cambiasso back on the field. But that only appeared to fuel Argentina's surge against the slow-witted Serbs.
In 31st minute, Saviola and Juan Riquelme combined in a fluid cross field movement from the left that found Cambiasso on the edge of the penalty area.
The midfielder completed the move after a glorious one-two with Crespo, who fed Cambiasso with a back-heeled pass that the Inter Milan player volleyed into goal with his left foot.
Rodriguez made it three just before half time, after Saviola poached the ball from a Serb player near the cornerpost and ran around the defence to feed Hernan Crespo with a low cross. The Chelsea striker was deprived by a gaggle of Serb defenders and goalkeeper but the ball ran across to Rodriguez, who side footed his shot off the post for Argentina's third.
Serbia-Montenegro's strikers were largely denied by Argentina's well organised defence, backed by a confident Abbondanzieri in goal and appeared demoralised by half time.
After being sharply criticised by some of his players after their 1-0 defeat against the Netherlands, Serbia-Montenegro coach Ilja Petkovic replaced Nena Djordjevic with one of his critics, Portsmouth midfielder Ognjen Koroman, in the starting line-up.
Following another last minute change, Petkovic made three more early in the second half, including the largely ineffective Savo Milosevic. But the Serbs struggled to contain the Argentinian tide at the back despite the slower pace of the game, showed little creativity and appeared blunted.
Messi was fouled on virtually his first touch of the ball aftre coming on in the 75th minute. The youngster latched on to the swiftly taken free kick to feed Crespo with an inch perfect cross to Crespo for Argentina's fifth.
Tevez then dribled past two defenders and curled his shot past Jevric, while Messi, hailed as Maradona's heir, marked his return from injury with his first World Cup goal in only 15 minutes on the pitch. Substitute Cambiasso said that Argentina were not going to get carried away but admitted confidence was sky-high.
"We are very happy with the way we played as this was a very important game. We looked very solid and we are very confident," the Real Madrid defender said.
TODAY'S MATCH SCHEDULE: Portugal vs Iran in Frankfurt 1300 GMT, Czech Republic vs Ghana in Cologne 1600 GMT, Italy vs USA in Kaiserslautern 1900 GMT.
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