Argentina Team: Abbondanzieri, Sorin, Burdisso, Ayala, Heinze, Gonzalez(Cambiasso 17), Riquelme, Mascherano, Rodriguez(Messi 75), Crespo, Saviola(Tevez 59).

Serbia & Montenegro Team: Jevric, Krstajic, Duljaj, Dragutinovic, Gavrancic, Koroman(Ljuboja 50), Stankovic, Nadj(Ergic 46), Djordjevic, Kezman(Vukic 70), Milosevic.

Match Report: After the brilliant Argentina performance in their opening game against Ivory Coast, it was perhaps a little optimistic to expect them to turn in another similar performance against Serbia & Montenegro, who needed to get something from this game to have any likelihood of prolonging their stay in Germany.

How wrong can you be? Argentina reached and surpassed that performance with ease, and firmly stated their intentions to all watching that they can win this World Cup.

Argentina were quickly on the offensive, winning two corners in the opening minute, which put S & M on the back foot. The midfield of Argentina supplemented by the tireless and tormenting movement of Saviola already looked more than a match for their opponents, and a swaggering confidence exuded from the Argentinians.

Sorin was involved early on, bombing up and down the left as an attacking threat and when his backheel inside to Saviola reached it's mark on 6 minutes Argentina had their first real opening. Saviola dropped a shoulder and drew a tackle and in the same movement laid a sublime pass with the outside of his right foot to Rodriguez, who finished well with his right foot without having to break his stride.

A clinical and precise move that carved S&M apart. This was only the start of their torment.

Djordjevic loked lively for S&M, and had a shot on the turn test Abbondanzieri soon after, but the Argentine keeper would remain largely redundant all afternoon.

The midfield of Argentina was beginning to look awesome, with Riquelme a little less conspicuous than usual to start with. Perhaps he was letting his mates have a bit more of the ball after hogging it last week.

A minor setback came when Gonzalez was injured and retired after just 16 minutes. Argentina needn't have worried, as his replacement Cambiasso proved a more than able deputy. In fact Cambiasso emerged as the conductor of the Argentine orchestra for the remainder of the first half.

S&M were not without the ball in the first quarter of the game, but when they had it Argentina hunted them in packs and closed them down with frightening speed. Anything that looked threatening was stamped out before it could come to fruition. Abbondanzieri, when asked to claim the ball did so and looked safe.

With the threat from S&M now easily contained, Argentina set about building a match winning lead. Ayala and Heinze dealt easily with any threats at the back. Riquelme became more involved, Cambiasso played the anchor perfectly and Saviola was just irritatingly good. He was appearing on the left flank, then the right, then in the hole, then deeper still collecting the ball and laying it off, then committing defenders and turning them with a strength that belies his diminutive stature. What a handful.

Riquelme combined with Cambiasso to create his own first shooting opportunity on the edge of the box, but was unusually for him way off target. Then came the second goal.

Argentina kept the ball for what seemed like several minutes, and passed it around as though playing a training session. From Ayala into midfield, then accross all the midfielders, each having a touch as it made it's detours. Then back. No opening yet. They were playing with the S&M defence like a cat with a ball of string.

Forward to Cambiasso, foot on the ball - "Have a look up - Riquelme's on". And so it went for a couple of minutes. The Argentine cat was ready to pounce. Saviola worked a little space down the left, the ball was already on it's way as he made his decisive run. Cambiasso, who had been edging forward spotted his chance and moved to a vacant spot just outside the box to receive Saviola's inevitable pass. One touch from Cambiasso and he was already on the move to receive the return from Crespo's deft back heel. Another touch from Cambiasso buried the ball to the keepers right.

Quite literally stunning, for the mesmerised S&M players, for those watching, and for those who will rerun this play in years to come.

This is how football, the beautiful game, should be played.

It is perhaps a statement on Argentina's belief in their own ability that they now went in search of the third goal. No sign of them settling for two, no sign of them coasting. The cat, now a lion, could smell blood, fear, and wanted more.

Minutes later Crespo, who's running was as intelligent as ever, almost converted a near post header after spotting Sorin's delivery. Crespo then had the ball in the net after Saviola's perfectly weighted ball removed four defenders from the game. The linesman flagged offside. The linesman in this case was wrong.

Still Argentina came forward.

Saviola sprinted down the right to put pressure on Krstajic, who was ushering a ball to the touchline hoping for a throw in. Saviola saw his moment and slid in to nick the ball, turning inside in the process. Another defender closed down the space quickly, but another dropped shoulder by the little man brought him into the box and bearing down on goal, the keeper was out smartly and got a hand on the goalbound shot, but that only delayed the inevitable. Rodriguez arrived at the back post to apply a well deserved finish.

Awesome.

Half Time: Argentina 3 Serbia and Montenegro 0

Could we expect more of the same in the second half? Too right.

Milosevic had his first shot on target in the first minute and tested Abbondanzieri low down, and the keeper was well up to the challenge.

Argentina continued their dominance of the game, and Crespo although amongst four defenders, went close with a shot from distance.

A nice counter from S&M alost produced a goal, with substitute Ljubja providing a raking cross field pass to Kezman who volleyed first time across goal to Milosevic who couldn't quite direct a header on target. Had he been more alert, he might have scored. This would be the last real chance S&M had to score, and Kezman's last real involvement in the game.

Kezman was sent off for a lunging challenge on Mascherano, who did not help the situation by rolling around on the floor as if in agony, when replays showed he had barely been touched. The challenge was a bit reckless, and was one of those difficult ones for a referee to judge. It is probable that no one would have complained if there had been no card at all.

Argentina had a good penalty shout denied when Crespo went down when through onto a Riquelme backheel, then Messi and Tevez were introduced by Argentina and both were keen to get amongst the action. Both tricky and skillful players, they fittted seamlessly into their roles and were soon causing different problems for the S&M defence.

Messi produced a great swinging ball from the left to give Crespo the goal he'd worked so hard for, arriving at the back post for an easy tap in. 4-0.

Tevez was not to be out done and minutes later he conjured a goal of his own. Out on the left Riquelme found him with good pass and he was immediately off into his stride. A jinking run into the box defeating two defenders ended with him slotting a cool bending side foot finish around the advancing keeper's outstretched left arm. A fine solo goal. 5-0

The S&M heads were now well and truly down and with a little less than 10 minutes to go, they just wanted the game to end.
In this group of death, if suicide was an option, S&M could almost have been forgiven taking that way out.

Now Messi wanted his goal too.

Crespo missed an easy chance when Messi put him in in front of goal. His weak shot was easily saved. Then came Messi's chance with just one minute remaining.

Another fine move started with Tevez playing a wall pass to Crespo and receiving the return looking to spot Messi on the overlap to his right. Tevez's pass was right into Messi's stride and the finish was sound, low across the keeper. 6-0.

It was hard not to feel a little sorry for the S&M players coming off with a real mauling against such a rampant Argentina. Harder still to imagine a side in this World Cup that can beat them on today's form.

Full Time: Argentina 6 Serbia and Montenegro 0

Argentina Ratings: Abbondanzieri 6, Sorin 8, Burdisso 7, Ayala 8, Heinze 7, Gonzalez 6(Cambiasso 8), Riquelme 8, Mascherano 7, Rodriguez 8(Messi 8), Crespo 8, Saviola 9(Tevez 8).

Serbia & Montenegro Ratings: Jevric 6, Krstajic 4, Duljaj 5, Dragutinovic 5, Gavrancic 5, Koroman 4(Ljuboja 6), Stankovic 5, Nadj 5(Ergic 5), Djordjevic 7, Kezman 6(Vukic 5), Milosevic 5.

Referee:R Rosetti (Italy)5. Average performance, but stuck a little to the letter of the FIFA World Cup refereeing manual.

Good: Everything about the Argentina performance. Forget Brazil, they are the team to beat in Germany.

Bad: A bit of a shame to see Kezman sent off.

Ugly Has Sorin ever entered a gurning competition? If he did I bet he'd win.