ARGENTINA-SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO: Players' Quotes

16 June 2006

Juan RIQUELME (ARG), Budweiser Man of the Match
I think we're at a very good level. Just like the last game, I think we deserved to win this match. I don't like the comparison, but in the last World Cup we had some good games, but we didn't have any luck in front of goal. Now we are putting the ball in the net. I hope that this doesn't prove to be our best game, and I hope we can continue to improve. Today we're very happy because of what we've done, but our intention is to keep growing as a team. I imagine all the Argentinian fans, both here and back home, enjoyed our performance. We players enjoyed it too. As for Messi, he did well and I'm pleased that he feels fine and played well. I love watching him play.

Maximiliano RODRIGUEZ (ARG)
It was an incredible game, and I can’t complain. The team won, we played well, and I got two goals. As far as the team's performance is concerned, we showed that we could play with freedom. We managed to put our plan into practice, which was to keep the ball moving and be solid. We did very well.

Lionel MESSI (ARG)
I'm happy to have made my (FIFA World Cup) debut, and, of course, because I scored. However, I want to remember the team’s performance, which was very good. We have to stay calm and keep working hard. Before the match, Diego Maradona came up to me and wished me luck, and that was a big lift for me, no doubt about it.

Javier MASCHERANO (ARG)
When you win you always feel good, and more so when you're playing at this level. But there are always things to improve and we can't be complacent. When you win 6-0, it’s difficult to pick out any mistakes, but we have to keep our feet on the ground. Today we won an important match, but we have to be level-headed about it if we are going to keep improving.

Carlos TEVEZ (ARG)
I'm very happy, firstly because I played, and secondly because I scored. It’s one of the best things that has happened to me in my career. Now we have to keep calm, and humble. We can’t let this go to our heads because we could come crashing back down to earth.

Javier SAVIOLA (ARG)
We have to be happy but calm. All three areas of the team played well, in attack as well as in defence. We had won the previous game, but today we played good football and that’s the most important thing. The euphoria? It’s difficult to stop it, especially among our fans, but the big players in the squad have to take charge and calm everyone else down. This is a World Cup and all the teams are strong.

Nicolas BURDISSO (ARG)
You never expect games like this one, and so it’s good to enjoy it. As of tomorrow, we can start to think about Holland. We performed well in the first half, but it is difficult to analyse the second. The good thing was that we were the ones who opened up the game.

Mladen KRSTAJIC (SCG)
We played against a fantastic team and there is no shame in losing to a team of this calibre. I will be the first to congratulate them on a wonderful performance.

Albert NADJ (SCG)
Argentina were much better than us today, there is nothing we can do about that. They were smarter and in terms of technique they are virtually untouchable. After we went a man down we were dead in the water. Now we have to focus on our last match and hopefully we can get a win to bring back to our people at home. Of course we are very sad, but they scored with all of their chances. We know we are pretty much out now.

Dejan STANKOVIC (SCG)
The people back home will be upset, because when you lose 6-0 it’s like you were really destroyed. But now we need to put this behind us and do our best to win our last match against the Ivory Coast.

Mateja KEZMAN (SCG) We had a very bad day. They (Argentina) are a very good team and they outplayed us the whole game long and we never had a chance. Argentina and Brazil are my candidates to win it all.

Ognjen KOROMAN (SCG)
It was really tough for us today. We did what we could, but after Kezman was sent off we had no chance really.

Ivan ERGIC (SCG)
To lose 6-0 is horrible, but we were not completely fit and we have had a lot of pressure put on us by the press and the media back home.