Special report: 2006 FIFA World Cup
MUNICH, June 16 (Xinhua) -- Argentina and the
Netherlands qualifed for the knockout stage from Group C of the World Cup after
grabbing their second wins respectively on Friday while Mexico will have to wait
until their last match after being held 0-0 by Angola in Group D.
The Netherlands, who beat Serbia and Montenegro 1-0
last Sundy, labored to edge World Cup first timers Cote d'Ivoire 2-1 in
Stuttgart while Argentina crushed Serbia and Montenegro 6-0 in Gelsenkirchen to
add to their first match win of 2-1 over Cote d'Ivoire.
The Netherlands took a 2-0 lead after 26 minutes
thanks to goals from Robin van Persie and Ruud van Nistelrooij.
Strkier Bakary Kone pulled one goal back for Cote
d'Ivoire with a powerful shot in the 37th minute.
Cote d'Ivoire threatened quite a lot after the
interval, but just could not crack the Netherlands' solid defence.
Van Persie opened the scoring with a powerful,
curling free kick in the 22nd minute to give the Netherlands a 1-0 lead.
Four minutes later, van Nistelrooij made it 2-0 as he
was laid off by superb Arjen Robben and scored from an unmarked position.
Argentina's wonderkid Lionel Messi set up a goal and
scored his own at his World Cup debut after coming off the bench against Serbia
and Montenegro.
The Barcelona striker was sent on the pitch as a
substitute after 75 minutes to replace Maxi Rodriguez, whose double led the
South Americans to a 6-0 trouncing win.
"I am happy because we played well. I wanted to play
some minutes and am pleased to have scored," said Messi after capping for
Argentina without being scathed.
"It is a joy for us to see Lionel back as he is
capable of doing special things," admitted coach Jose Pekerman.
Messi, just recovering from a lengthy thigh injury
and shaking off another new injury worry, was founded by a quick free-kick from
Juan Roman while waiting on the left wing, and delivered a low cross to Hernan
Crespo, who lobbed in at 78 to add more gloss to an already outstanding
Argentine performance.
Just six minutes later, the 18-year-old stretched
Argentina's lead even further as he pounced the ball past Jevric after being fed
by Tevez following some wonderful build-up play from Hernan Crespo, Carlos Tevez
and himself.
The talented teenager was not included in Pekerman's
starting list due to a slight left-foot injury sustained in Wednesday's
training, though the team doctor of Argentina, Donato Villani revealed Thursday
that Messi's injury was nothing serious.
He has just recovered from a lengthy thigh injury and
missed the national side's 2-1 victory at their first World Cup match with Cote
d'Ivoire last Saturday.
In the day's only Group D game in Hanover, World Cup
debutants Angola fought to the end like fighters, earning a goalless tie with
powerhouse Mexico.
The last 15 minutes saw ten-man Angola resisting
waves of attacks by the more experienced, skilful and mad-going Mexicans.
Ricardo Joao, Angola's goalkeeper, was no doubt the
Man of the Match. He made countless incredible saves to keep the Angola
sheetclean.
Africa's traditional heavyweights Cameroon, Nigeria,
Senegal and 2010 World Cup hosts South Africa failed to qualify for the 2006
finals in Germany, and four debutants Angola, Togo, Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana all
got off to losing starts in their first appearances.
The fifth African nation, Tunisia, who have previous
World Cup experience, drew 2-2 in their opener with Saudi Arabia.
But Angola's tie with Mexico is really something for
the country and Africa as a whole in this World Cup.
Mexico beat Iran 3-1 in their first World Cup game
and currently topped the Group D with one win and a tie.
Angola, who lost to European giants Portugal 1-0 in
their debut, played actively and created some chances but sqaundered them due to
poor shooting skills.
The Mexicans had more chances than the Africans but failed to covert any of them due to the brilliant form of the Joao and bad luck. Enditem
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