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GABRIEL BATISTUTA and Ariel Ortega sent a chilling warning to England as they took Jamaica to the cleaners.
A quickfire hat-trick by Fiorentina striker Batistuta and two goals for Ortega sent the Reggae Boyz crashing out of the World Cup and put Daniel Passarella's side into the second round, where they could meet Glenn Hoddle's Lions. The first strike came from a beautiful through-ball by Juan Veron, which Ortega lifted over advancing goalkeeper Warren Barrett with the outside of his right boot and some aplomb.
Jamaica may have been satisfied going into the break just a goal down, but Powell seemed intent on making their task more difficult, two simply daft challenges on Ortega earning him a red card just before the interval. The Reggae Boyz will complain they were harshly treated, but the challenges were clumsy and the Valencia star is just the sort of talented player whose skills FIFA are seeking to protect with their refereeing crackdown. The 'new Maradona' is not content just to score himself - he is the architect of just about everything creative in this side. The South Americans were keen to make the most of their one-man advantage and, ten minutes after the break, Claudio Lopez fed Ortega and he calmly repeated his earlier strike.
Then Batistuta, who had seemed perfectly willing to watch his teammate grab the glory, struck three times within ten minutes, the first a terrific right-footed drive from the edge of the area after an inspired ball from guess who?.. yep, Ortega. Batistuta added his second and Argentina's fourth in the 79th minute when he guided Diego Simeone's pass past Barrett, and then claimed his third from the spot after Chris Dawes hauled down Ortega.
The Valencia wizard should have opened the scoring early in the first half when he forced Barrett to juggle the ball under his own crossbar with a whipped-in half-volley on the turn. And then he danced around three defenders in the 28th minute only to shoot over.
This demolition job means Jamaica head for home, having gained valuable experience on the world stage and their team, sprinkled with Premiership and Nationwide League stars, can be proud of their efforts. The Argentinians, who have not failed to go beyond the first round since 1962, can begin to dream. Their first victory over Japan was sluggish but they say the eventual winners rarely start quickly. This win revved up the pace nicely for the nation which lifted the Jules Rimet trophy in 1978 and 1986 and have reached three of the last five finals.
THE MATCH STATS
Argentina (1) 5 Jamaica (0) 0
ARGENTINA: Roa (6), Sensini (5) (Vivas (6) 25), Ayala (6), Zanetti (6), Chamot (6), Simeone (6) (Pineda (6) 80), Almeyda (7), Veron (6), Ortega (8), Batistuta (9), Lopez (7) (Gallardo (6) 75)
Subs Not Used: Cavallero, Paz, Astrada, Berti, Delgado, Balbo, Crespo, Burgos
Booked: Chamot
Goals: Ortega 32, 55, Batistuta 73, 79, 83 pen
JAMAICA: Barrett (5), Goodison (7), Malcolm (6) (Boyd (5) 62), Sinclair (6), Dawes (7), Gardner (6), Powell (6), Simpson (6), Whitmore (5) (Earle (5) 73), Burton (5) (Cargill (5) 45), Hall (5)
Subs Not Used: Lawrence, Brown, Sewell, Williams, Gayle, Lowe, Ricketts
Sent Off: Powell (45)
Booked: Powell, Cargill
Att: 48,500 (crowd rating: 8)
Ref: R Pedersen (Norway) 7
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BATISTUTA SURPRISED BY
JAMAICAN SURRENDER
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ARGENTINA'S hat-trick hero Gabriel Batistuta has accused the Reggae Boyz of letting down their brilliant fans by throwing in the towel after going 1-0 down in yesterday's 5-0 thrashing.
"We expected a more difficult game. They sort of went home after the first goal, said the striker, whose treble gives him a tournament-best four goals so far. The Golden Boot is what I came here for, but it's early days yet. It's going to be very difficult, but we'll keep on trying to the end."
The lop-sided win gives the South Americans a plus-six goal difference, which means they can top the group with a draw against nearest rivals Croatia in Friday's Group H decider. "We felt a bit of rage after only beating Japan 1-0, claimed midfielder Juan Veron. The team knew they could play better. We were anxious to play again quickly and we attacked with the ball on the ground, which was what we wanted to do."
Coach Daniel Passarella said: "We hoped to win to assure our qualification and we needed to score goals so as not to be at a disadvantage against Croatia, but I didn't think the victory was going to be so commanding.
Jamaica coach Rene Simoes said the sending off of midfielder Darryl Powell moments before halftime killed off any chance his team had of getting the result that would have kept their hopes of reaching the knockout stages alive. "Playing with ten men against the likes of Argentina, France and Brazil is very difficult. Their skill and technical level is very high, said the Brazilian. The only thing I would say is that I thought they broke up our game with a lot of fouls and were not punished for it while we were. However, I am not making any complaints, the better team won.
"I had a choice to make at halftime when we were 1-0 down and down to ten men - do we play and keep it tight and try to keep the score to 1-0 or do I tell the players to go out and enjoy themselves and show what they can do? Well I didn't care for my reputation, I thought: �Let them go and do it and show how good they are, let them go for goals'. OK, we lost by a big score, but they did their best. I am proud of my team."
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News 7 
