 |
|
||
 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
   | 
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Argentina rebound from Geneva loss
 Defender Ayala reacts after scoring Argentina's third against Qatar DOHA, Qatar -- Argentina rebounded from their weekend defeat to arch-rivals England with a comfortable 3-0 win over Qatar in a friendly in Doha on Wednesday. The South American giants had to wait until the 70th minute for the breakthrough from Juan Roman Riquelme, their outstanding player in Geneva on Saturday. Further goals came in the next three minutes through substitute Julio Ricardo Cruz and Robert Ayala. For Argentina coach Jose Pekerman it was the ideal response to the defeat in neutral Geneva on Saturday, although he said he was impressed with the Quatari players. "I am surprised by Qatar's display," he said. "Their defenders played well. It was attractive football in the first half." It was the introduction of Inter Milan striker Cruz, Real Zaragoza defender Gabriel Milito and Carlos Tevez in the second half that proved decisive. Riquelme, who impressed against England, fired the first salvo before Cruz and Ayala knocked the stuffing out of the side who were eliminated in the first round of the Asian World Cup Qualifying campaign. "With Cruz, Milito and Tevez coming in, our attack sharpened," Pekerman said. "The Qatari midfielders were looking tired as well and we managed to exploit those rare chinks which surfaced in their defense." Qatar's Bosnian coach Djemaluddin Musovic said he was happy with his team's performance. "Everybody expected us to lose by a bigger margin. But my boys played very well, especially the defenders," he said. Romania winRomania, despite missing striker Adrian Mutu and defender Cristian Chivu, beat travel-weary Nigeria 3-0 in a friendly in Bucharest. Daniel Nicolae opened the scoring 15 minutes into the match, substitute Florentin Petre added the second three minutes after the break and Laurentiu Rosu sealed the win in injury time. Romania dominated throughout after the kickoff was put back by an hour and 20 minutes with the Nigerian squad having landed in Bucharest just four hours before the scheduled start. Both Romania and Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany. Roma's Chivu joined Juventus's Mutu on the sidelines after he stopped training on Tuesday because of pain in his adductor muscle. Both players have since returned to Italy. 
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
| © 2007 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us. Site Map. |
|
External sites open in new window; not endorsed by CNN.com
Pay service with live and archived video. 
