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Serbia & Montenegro sleepwalks through 6-0 rout by Argentina

GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany -- Argentina put on a soccer clinic for Serbia & Montenegro Friday at Veltins-Arena, romping to a 6-0 win behind two-goal performances from Maxi Rodriguez and Lionel Messi.

The game marked the World Cup debut of highly-touted youngster Messi, who was held out of the team's opening match due to foot and thigh injuries. Three minutes after entering the match as a 74th-minute substitute, Messi threaded a left side pass across the goalmouth for Hernan Crespo, who finished to make the score 4-0. In the 88th, he nutmegged stunned goalkeeper Dragoslav Jevric to cap the rout.

Flash and dash was the order of the day for the South Americans, who moved the ball at will around and through the outclassed Serbia & Montenegro defense. From their first corner kick, less than two minutes in, the match was all Argentina. Rodriguez opened the floodgates in the sixth minute, off a nifty outside-of-the-foot pass from Javier Saviola. Rodriguez split two defenders at the top of the box to run onto the diagonal ball and poke a shot to the far post.

In the 31st minute, Esteban Cambiasso -- who entered the game in the 16th after Luis Gonzalez was injured -- crowned a magnificent half-field passing sequence with a left-footer from short range. Argentina's midfield humbled the Serbia & Montenegro defense with a deft and seemingly effortless series of short passes, eventually finding Cambiasso at the top of the box. The substitute dished off to Crespo on the right and cut into the box to receive the backheel return pass and finish from straight-on.

Rodriguez finished off the first-half rout in the 41st minute, off Saviola's rebound. Saviola stripped Mladen Krstajic of the ball deep on the right side, cut back and sent a left-footed shot on goal. Jevric got a hand on the ball, but the rebound found Rodriguez off the far post. The finishing shot deflected off a defender and the post before making the score 3-0.

Argentina might easily have entered the halftime locker room up by four, but Crespo's 36th-minute breakaway goal was negated by a questionable offside call.

After the own goal made the score 4-0, another Argentine substitute � 2004 South American Player of the Year Carlos Tevez, nutmegged one defender and spun past another to score Argentina's fifth goal.

Juan Riquelme, in addition to keeping Jevric on his toes with long free kicks, found Crespo with a backheel that should have turned into a goal in the 74th minute. Jevric dumped the Argentine striker, but no penalty kick was awarded.

On the few occasions when Serbia & Montenegro penetrated Argentina's penalty area, goalkeeper Roberto Abbondanzieri was there to defuse the attack, mostly by picking off long balls before a shot could materialize. Savo Milosevic, who collected his 100th cap with the game, provided what little threat there was, mostly after halftime.

In the 46th minute, he sent Abbondanzieri sprawling to snag a low shot to the corner. Ten minutes later, Mateja Kezman found Milosevic at close range, but the pass was unmanageable. Kezman was out of the picture in the 65th minute, ejected after a studs-up tackle on Javier Mascherano, and Milosevic was subbed out in the 70th.

Argentina
Roberto Abbondanzieri; Roberto Ayala, Juan Sorin, Gabriel Heinze, Nicolas Burdisso; Javier Mascherano, Juan Riquelme, Maxi Rodriguez (Lionel Messi-74), Luis Gonzalez (Esteban Cambiasso-16); Javier Saviola (Carlos Tevez-58), Hernan Crespo.

Serbia and Montenegro
Dragoslav Jevric; Goran Gavrancic, Milan Dudic, Mladen Krstajic; Igor Duljaj, Ognjen Koroman (Danijel Ljubjoa-49)Dejan Stankovic, Predrag Djordjevic, Albert Nadj (Ivan Ergic-45); Mateka Kezman, Savo Milosevic (Zvonimir Vukic-69).

Goals
Argentina -- Maxi Rodriguez 6
Argentina -- Esteban Cambiasso 31
Argentina -- Maxi Rodriguez 41
Argentina -- Hernan Crespo 78
Argentina -- Carlos Tevez 84
Argentina -- Lionel Messi 88

Discipline
Serbia -- Ognjen Koroman (yellow card) 7
Serbia -- Albert Nadj (yellow card) 27
Argentina -- Hernan Crespo (yellow card) 36
Serbia -- Mladen Krstajic (yellow card) 42
Serbia -- Mateja Kezman (red card) 65

Attendance -- 52,000