Argentina and the Netherlands qualifed for the knockout stage from Group C of the World Cup after grabbing their second wins respectively on Friday while Mexico will have to wait until their last match after being held 0-0 by Angola in Group D.

The Netherlands, who beat Serbia and Montenegro 1-0 last Sundy, labored to edge World Cup first timers Cote d'Ivoire 2-1 in Stuttgart while Argentina crushed Serbia and Montenegro 6-0 in Gelsenkirchen to add to their first match win of 2-1 over Cote d'Ivoire.

The Netherlands took a 2-0 lead after 26 minutes thanks to goals from Robin van Persie and Ruud van Nistelrooij.

Strkier Bakary Kone pulled one goal back for Cote d'Ivoire with a powerful shot in the 37th minute.

Cote d'Ivoire threatened quite a lot after the interval, but just could not crack the Netherlands' solid defence.

Van Persie opened the scoring with a powerful, curling free kick in the 22nd minute to give the Netherlands a 1-0 lead.

Four minutes later, van Nistelrooij made it 2-0 as he was laid off by superb Arjen Robben and scored from an unmarked position.

Argentina's wonderkid Lionel Messi set up a goal and scored his own at his World Cup debut after coming off the bench against Serbia and Montenegro.

The Barcelona striker was sent on the pitch as a substitute after 75 minutes to replace Maxi Rodriguez, whose double led the South Americans to a 6-0 trouncing win.

"I am happy because we played well. I wanted to play some minutes and am pleased to have scored," said Messi after capping for Argentina without being scathed.

"It is a joy for us to see Lionel back as he is capable of doing special things," admitted coach Jose Pekerman.

Messi, just recovering from a lengthy thigh injury and shaking off another new injury worry, was founded by a quick free-kick from Juan Roman while waiting on the left wing, and delivered a low cross to Hernan Crespo, who lobbed in at 78 to add more gloss to an already outstanding Argentine performance.

Just six minutes later, the 18-year-old stretched Argentina's lead even further as he pounced the ball past Jevric after being fed by Tevez following some wonderful build-up play from Hernan Crespo, Carlos Tevez and himself.

The talented teenager was not included in Pekerman's starting list due to a slight left-foot injury sustained in Wednesday's training, though the team doctor of Argentina, Donato Villani revealed Thursday that Messi's injury was nothing serious.

He has just recovered from a lengthy thigh injury and missed the national side's 2-1 victory at their first World Cup match with Cote d'Ivoire last Saturday.

In the day's only Group D game in Hanover, World Cup debutants Angola fought to the end like fighters, earning a goalless tie with powerhouse Mexico.

The last 15 minutes saw ten-man Angola resisting waves of attacks by the more experienced, skilful and mad-going Mexicans.

Ricardo Joao, Angola's goalkeeper, was no doubt the Man of the Match. He made countless incredible saves to keep the Angola sheetclean.

Africa's traditional heavyweights Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal and 2010 World Cup hosts South Africa failed to qualify for the 2006 finals in Germany, and four debutants Angola, Togo, Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana all got off to losing starts in their first appearances.

The fifth African nation, Tunisia, who have previous World Cup experience, drew 2-2 in their opener with Saudi Arabia.

But Angola's tie with Mexico is really something for the country and Africa as a whole in this World Cup.

Mexico beat Iran 3-1 in their first World Cup game and currently topped the Group D with one win and a tie.

Angola, who lost to European giants Portugal 1-0 in their debut, played actively and created some chances but sqaundered them due to poor shooting skills.

The Mexicans had more chances than the Africans but failed to covert any of them due to the brilliant form of the Joao and bad luck.

(Xinhua News Agency June 17, 2006)