[Archive 2006-06-16] Argentina thrash Serbia and Montenegro in Group C

Historical archive — originally published 2006-06-16. This report records what was known on that date. It is not current news; subsequent events may have changed the situation. Wikinews closed in May 2026.

Argentina thrashed Serbia and Montenegro 6-0 in a display that stunned the crowd in Gelsenkirchen, Friday.

On one side of this one-way game there was an embarrassment of Argentine talent; on the other there was the humiliation of Ilija Petkovic's side being out-played for 90 minutes by a team at the top of their form.

With the roof over the Veltins Arena it was dark enough in the stadium for camera flashes to light up in the crowd. On the pitch the Argentine players provided the flashes of brilliance.

An early goal after six minutes was the first of six goals that were the product of almost flawless team play and individual execution. Argentina swept down the left, Maxi Rodriguez ran at speed into a pass and toe-poked first time beyond Dragoslav Jevric.

The next one was the climax of a 24 pass move. Esteban Cambiasso tapped the ball forward to Hernan Crespo just inside the penalty area; a back heal and Cambiasso ran on and smacked it past Jevric.

On 35 minutes the Argentina fans in the crowd seemed to know which way the game was going. The chant "Ole" was heard as the Argentines continued to pass amongst themselves with great ease.

Totally dominant, the blue and white stripes had over 60 per cent ball possession come half-time. Roberto Abbondanzieri in the Argentina goal was for the most part the spectator number 52'001.

It could have been four nil at the break but on 36 minutes Crespo's effort was judged to have come from an offside position. Crespo got booked because he did not stop when the referee blew his whistle. The television replay showed the linesman was mistaken.

The third goal came on 41 minutes. Jevric could only palm a Javier Saviola shot to Maxi Rodriguez at the far post who stuck away his second off the post.

Savo Milosevic won his hundredth cap for Serbia and Montenegro, a statistic that included games with the Yugoslavia football team. He forced a corner with a hard long range shot and failed to reach a header after Danijel Ljuboja had briefly stretched Argentina on the right.

Source and licence

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