MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine victory applauded in Europe

Argentina's 6-0 thrashing of Serbia Montenegro (Friday June 16) was hailed as a footballing exhibition of the highest standard, while the second goal of the game, scored by Esteban Cambiasso, after a passing movement of 24 touches, has been described as probably the greatest ever World Cup goal.

The respected British newspaper THE TIMES of London headlined their report with 'PEERLESS ARGENTINA SET NEW STANDARD'. Their reporter said, 'When Cambiasso scored that wonderful goal ....it felt as if FIFA should crown them (Argentina) as world champions there and then.'

THE DAILY MAIL main line ran 'BAND OF GODS' saying that even Diego Maradona must admit that Cambiasso's goal was even greater than the second goal he scored against England in Mexico in 1986. The newspaper praised the role of Javier Saviola in the build-up, pointing out that he initially played a 'one-two' with Juan Riquelme before feeding Cambiasso 25 yards from goal.

THE DAILY MAIL reporter said that 'Argentina's football was of a remarkable quality.'

Paddy Agnew, sports writer for the Irish Times and a correspondent for the well-known WORLD SOCCER magazine said, 'Argentina's display restored my faith in football. This was the way the game is meant to be played with skillful passing of the ball, beautiful touches, and wonderful control. I doubt if any team here can stop Argentina from winning the World Cup.'

The DAILY MAIL also compared the Argentine performance with that of England's against Trinidad & Tobago, saying, 'The longer the group stage of this terrific World Cup goes on, the more hopeless England's chances of making any kind of impression on the competition appear to become. Yesterday it was Argentina's turn to place England's effort into dismal perspective with a performance - and one goal in particular - that would have raised the roof from Gelsenkirchen's World Cup stadium had it not been so tightly shut.'

Thomas Boker a writer for the top German magazine 'KICKER' was also glowing in his praise for the Argentine performance, but he also sounded a word of warning to the Argentine team saying, 'They have now alerted all the other teams to the way they can play and I'm sure that some coaches already will be thinking of ways to prevent Argentina from playing flowing football in future matches.

There may be some unpleasant tackling ahead!'

Henk van Vossan of the Dutch magazine 'FUBOL' said, 'It was the top performance of the tournament so far but maybe Argentina have peaked too soon, and may not be able to reach such a high standard in future games.'