MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine 2 Egypto 0

Argentina kept alive their hopes of qualifying for the 2nd stage of the World Youth Championships with a easy 2-0 vistory over a poor Egypt team.

Predictably the new 'wonder kid' Lionel Messi opened the scoring for Argentina, when in the 46th minute he swept the ball into the net following a right wing cross from Gustavo Oberman.

On the 90th minute, captain Pablo Zabaleta of San Lorenzo made sure of all 3 points when he scored from an acute angle, following an excellent pass by Juan Manuel Toress of the Racing Club.

17 year old Messi, now with Barcelona in Spain, was the prominent player throughout and created many chances for himself and for his team members. As early as the 10th minute he picked up the ball on the halfway line and ran through the Egyptian defence before firing the ball against the crossbar and over the top. Messei was again involved in the 40th minute, setting up Oberman, whose shot hit the outside of the post.

In the 59th minute Messi again waltzed his way through the Egyptian defence and the ball was diverted for a corner. 4 minutes later he again made a great solo run and shot but the goalkeeper managed to parry the ball which went for a corner kick.

In the 69th minute Mesi took a corner kick and defender Gustavo Cabral headed the ball just over the goal.

Messi was substituted by coach Francisco Ferraro in the 83 rd minute and the youngster recived great applause from the spectators.

So dominant was Argentina that they were awarded 12 corner kicks to just one for the Egyptian team.

Now Argentina go into their final game on Saturday against Germany in Emmen, needing to win to ensure their passge into the 2nd stage, which is a knockout series.

Special correspondent from Enschede Holland.