Gelsenkirchen, June 16 (Xinhua) Argentina are closer to the World Cup knockout stage with a 6-0 Group C rout of Serbia and Montenegro here Friday.

Atletico Madrid midfielder Maxi Rodriguez opened the scoring in the sixth minute after Juan Pablo Sorin capped a flowing left-flank move by Javier Saviola for a neat pass inside, enabling Rodriguez to thump a right-footer beyond Dragoslav Jevric.

Substitute Esteban Cambiasso made it 2-0 25 minutes later after the midfielder, who replaced injured Luis Gonzalez in the 17th minute, rounded off a string of magnificent one-touch moves.

Rodriguez then scored his second in the 41st minute as he latched on to a lose ball from Jeric, which Hernan Crespo failed to reach, and sidefooted it in from a narrow angle (3-0).

In the 78th minute, substitute Lionel Messi, who came off the bench to make his World Cup debut after recovering from a lengthy thigh injury, was found 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 to make the already outstanding Argentine performance 4-0.

But the goal-scoring spree was far from over for the South American powerhouse. Substitute forward Carlos Tevez, debuting in the World Cup, skipped past two Serb defenders to send the ball into the bottom right-hand corner in the 84th minute (5-0).

Messi extended Argentina's lead even further with two minutes remaining, as the Barcelona striker pounced the ball past Jevric after being fed by Tevez following some spectacular build-up play (6-0).

With the victory, Argentina is in sight of the last 16 after beating Ivory Coast 2-1 in their opening match last weekend.

Serbia and Montenegro, who lost 0-1 to the Netherlands in the opening match, now face an early exit from the tournament.