Soccer: Wakeup call for strikers

LEIPZIG - Argentina need to rediscover their goal power when they take on Latin American rivals Mexico in the second round.

The twice former champions were held 0-0 by Netherlands in their final Group C match and will be looking to find the net again with the ease of their 6-0 rout of Serbia & Montenegro a week ago.

Argentina, with an 8-1 goal record in three group games and two players on two goals apiece in striker Hernan Crespo and winger Maxi Rodriguez, are favourites to reach the last eight.

Mexico have reached the quarter-finals in the only two World Cups they hosted, and came to Germany expecting to improve their record.But their finishing has been so poor they only scraped into the knockout phase.

"We will continue to work on our finishing [in practice]," Mexico's coach Ricardo La Volpe said after they lost their last Group D match 2-1 to Portugal.

Captain Rafael Marquez said: "The team continue to show poise and character. We have a new opportunity now and we can't let it slip."

The two nations have met only once before in the World Cup, when Argentina won 6-3 in the inaugural 1930 tournament in Uruguay.

They have, however, played each other in numerous friendlies and in the Copa America, to which Mexico have been invited regularly since 1993.

Argentina beat Mexico in the 1993 Copa America final in Ecuador, but lost 1-0 to them in the group stage in the last tournament in Peru in 2004.

* Argentina v Mexico
Leipzig, tomorrow 7am

- REUTERS