Plavi fall to awesome Argentina

A scintillating display from Argentina brought an early end to Serbia and Montenegro s FIFA World Cup campaign as the Netherlands victory against the Ivory Coast in the other Group C game left Plavi marooned at the foot of the section. Early goal Serbia and Montenegro brought Ivica Dragutinović and Nenad Djordjević into defence following their opening loss to the Dutch but the hoped-for return of Nemanja Vidić from suspension was thwarted by a knee ligament injury. As it was, the match was only six minutes old when Javier Saviola, a UEFA Cup winner with Sevilla FC, played a perfect pass to another Spain-based player in Maxi Rodríguez, who fired a confident first-time shot past Dragoslav Jevrić. Argentina rampant Lucho González, replacing Esteban Cambiasso in Argentina s only change from the victory against the Ivory Coast, was injured before the quarter-hour, meaning a comeback for the FC Internazionale Milano man. The substitute made it 2-0 following a 24-pass move completed by Chelsea FC s Hernán Crespo brilliantly back-heeling the ball into Cambiasso s path for an emphatic finish. Rodríguez struck again before the break after Saviola robbed FC Schalke 04 defender Mladen Krstajić and sent in an angled drive that Jevrić could only parry, allowing the Club Atlético de Madrid man to pounce. Kežman off To compound matters for Serbia and Montenegro, with 25 minutes remaining Rodríguez s Atlético team-mate Mateja Kežman was shown a straight red card for a sliding foul on Javier Mascherano. Crespo turned in a cross from substitute Lionel Messi 12 minutes from time and another young replacement, Carlos Tévez, made it five. Messi then sealed a famous victory with goal No6. Argentina will be full of confidence when they meet the Netherlands on Wednesday night in Frankfurt, while Serbia and Montenegro - for whom Savo Milošević won his 100th cap - next face Ivory Coast in Munich. Grp C Netherlands 2-1 Ivory Coast Grp D Mexico 0-0 Angola