Magnificent Argentina Crush Serbs

If you missed Argentina’s game against Serbia and Montenegro, that is the kind of bad luck which you can ill afford. You need to find someone who recorded it (that shouldn’t be difficult) and watch it as soon as possible. You will not be disappointed. In the meantime, if you see the match reports do not under any circumstances dismiss them as journalistic hype. You couldn’t be more wrong, because what Argentina did in this game was awe inspiring and it is almost inevitable that seeing it will do almost as much damage to their competitors as they inflicted upon the unfortunate Serbs.

In a devastating six goal thriller, Argentina have established themselves as new favourites to win the 2006 World Cup. They annihilated the Serbs with a performance that came close to perfection. Saviola gave them the lead as early as the 6th minute and just after the half hour mark the Argentinians added an unforgettable goal, with 23 passes culminating in Crespo’s impudent back heel to give substitute Cambiasso the privilege of applying the finishing touch. Just before half time Rodriguez’s tap in brought them a third and in a mesmerising 15 minutes at the end of the game they ran in three more – Crespo from Messi’s cross, a virtuoso solo effort from Tevez and Messi two minutes from time. The pace, the power, the movement and the invention – all sublime.

On this performance, it is difficult to imagine an international side which is capable of beating Argentina, who appear to be a team without a weakness representing a squad with real strength in depth. And the much vaunted England players, who have yet to impress in Germany, will have found watching this a salutary lesson and an experience which may be injurious to their fast diminishing confidence.