Liverpool winger gets both goals in opening half Argentina 5-0 Canada

ARGENTINA 5
- Maximiliano Rodriguez (16)
- Maximiliano Rodriguez (32)
- Angel Di Maria (37)
- Carlos Tévez (63)
- Sergio Agüero (71)

CANADA 0

**Argentina said goodbye to their home fans before their World Cup trip with a 5-0 thrashing of Canada.

English-based duo Maxi Rodriguez and Carlos Tevez contributed goals for Argentina's win with a convincing performance despite their rivals' obvious weakness.

Liverpool midfielder Rodriguez gave the Albicelestes a two-goal lead before the 32nd minute. In the 16th he opened the scoring with a free-kick from the left side before Tevez assisted him to made it 2-0 from a counter-attack.

Eight minutes before half-time, Angel Di Maria widened the gap from outside the box with the left foot as his shot went in off the left post. In the 62nd minute, after a defensive mistake by Andre Hainault, Gonzalo Higuain assisted Tevez to beat keeper Pat Onstad.

Sergio Aguero replaced Tevez in the 70th minute and the Atletico Madrid forward only needed a few seconds to evade Richard Hastings and make it 5-0.

Diego Maradona left the Estadio Monumental Antonio Liberti in happy mood: "The guys understood we have no friendlies but international matches. We made our fans happy. We wanted to prove the players can do this and more. The Argentinian fans can be calm because we have good players.''

In the World Cup, Argentina were drawn in Group B alongside Nigeria, South Korea and Greece, while Canada are flying to Venezuela to play the Vinotinto in another friendly on Saturday.

Source : soccernet.espn.go

Time Line-Ups :

Argentina : Sergio Romero, Gabriel Heinze (Clemente Juan Rodriguez 59), Nicolás Burdisso, Nicolás Otamendi, Javier Mascherano (Mario Ariel Bolatti 59), Jonás Gutiérrez, Javier Pastore (Ariel Garce 74), Angel Di Maria, Maximiliano Rodriguez (Juan Sebastián Verón 46), Gonzalo Higuaín (Martín Palermo 59), Carlos Tévez (Sergio Agüero 70)

Canada : Pat Onstad, Richard Hastings (Adam Straith 80), Paul Stalteri, Michael Klukowski, Andrew Hainault, Daniel Imhof, Nikolas Ledgerwood (Jaime Peters 55), Josh Simpson, Dwayne De Rosario (S Ademolu 87), Rob Friend (Simeon Jackson 66), Will Johnson

Beautiful game brought confidence for the England

ENGLAND 3
- King 17,
- Crouch 34,
- Johnson 47

MEXICO 1
- Guillermo Franco 45

**That England were two up with a third of the game gone can only be credited to Mexico’s laughably bad set play defense. England scored from their first corner – a training ground routine from Gerrard to Crouch to King – as well as the second – Crouch finishing (from an offside position) after Rooney’s header was well-saved – despite Mexico having almost complete control of the ball.

Amongst England’s first half goals, Green came up with two incredible saves, twice denying Vela on the break, while Salcido rattled the same post Chelsea repeatedly thumped nine days ago. On the stroke of halftime, England hospitably mimicked Mexico’s hopeless defending, allowing Franco to pull one back after Marquez headed a corner goalwards, cleared off the line by Baines directly to the striker’s feet.

What little momentum that might have carried over from Franco’s goal was dead, while England also did a better job pressing the opposition, helped by moving Gerrard inside and Milner out wide. Mexico continued to see more of the ball, but did a lot less with it. Although the final 20 minutes were mainly spent in England's end, with the substitute Barrera often torching Baines, Hart had little to do besides catch shots straight down his throat and take goal kicks.

Obviously, England were impressive on set plays. Walcott also used his pace to great effect (if the end product left something to be desired at times), while Johnson – good in both attack and defense – was my man of the match. Rooney, Crouch, and Gerrard also showed some signs of understanding, although Gerrard was far better when central in the second half.

No injuries, despite the much-maligned Wembley turf, a win, and Capello knows a good deal more about the 30 players in his squad. That’s all you can ask from a friendly.

Team Line-Ups:

England: Green, G, Johnson, Ferdinand, King, Baines, Walcott, Gerrard, Carrick, Milner, Crouch, Rooney.
Subs: Hart, James, Carragher, Dawson, Upson, Warnock, Lennon, Parker, Huddlestone, Wright-Phillips, A, Johnson, Heskey, Defoe

Mexico: Perez, Juarez, Aguilar, Marquez, Salcido, Osorio, Torrado, Rodriguez, Giovani, Franco, Vela.
Subs: Ochoa, Michel, Barrera, Castro, Blanco, Hernandez, Moreno, Guardado, Magallon, Torres, Bautista, Medina, Jonathan