May 24, 2002	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 11,1423

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NARAHA (Japan), May 23: Gabriel Batistuta scored four second half goals in 34 minutes, all laid on by Gustavo Lopez, as Argentina warmed up for the World Cup finals with a 5-1 win over Japanese champions Kashima Antlers on Thursday.

Argentina showed their formidable strength in depth when a virtual reserve side overwhelmed their hosts in the second half after eight changes at the interval.

Paris St Germain defender Mauricio Pochettino scored the only goal of the first half in the seventh minute of the game at Argentina’s World Cup camp on Japan’s Pacific coast.

The Argentines, with Juan Sebastian Veron at the hub of their midfield and Lazio’s Hernan Crespo as the central striker, lacked precision in the first half and managed to change ends only 1-0 in the lead when they should have scored more goals.

Crespo has, however, just recovered from injury while club team mate Diego Simeone, Argentina’s record caps holder with 104, looked rusty after only recently coming back from a long layoff following surgery on right knee ligaments.

Coach Marcelo Bielsa constantly demanded defensive rigour from his forwards, especially Claudio Lopez, shouting his name regularly to get the Lazio winger to drop back to cover.

Two minutes after the restart Kashima equalised when midfielder Takuya Nozawa found a gaping hole in the left side of the defence to rifle home a low shot from the edge of the box.

Argentina made eight changes at halftime with only Simeone, Roberto Ayala and Kily Gonzalez staying on the pitch, but Batistuta’s first goal, restoring their lead within two minutes, helped the side to settle.

Lopez, a left footed player playing on the right wing with Claudio Caniggia still not fully fit after recovering from a twisted knee, crossed for Batistuta to head home from inside the six-metre box.

On the hour, Batistuta received a lowLopez cross into the middle of the box and ran the ball out right before swivelling to fire it into the roof of the net from a tight angle.

He completed his hat-trick nine minutes from time with another shot at close range from a low ball by Lopez and latched on to yet another cross to head his fourth two minutes later.

Simeone looked closer to the pace in the second half while midfielder Claudio Husain had a competent time on the right.

TOUGH FOR SPAIN: Spain had a tougher than expected pre-World Cup workout on Thursday as they edged their way to a 3-1 win over semi-professional side Hyundai Ulsan Mipo.

Spanish coach Jose Antonio Camacho named an unfamiliar line-up for the first of two warm-up games this week with the likes of Raul, Fernando Hierro and Diego Tristan all left on the bench for the first half.

The group B favourites took the lead on 25 minutes, the uncapped Albert Luque smacking in a penalty after being pulled down in the area as he raced on to Xavi’s pass.

Luis Enrique converted a cross from Javi de Pedro seven minutes later but Spain were still struggling to get their passing game going as their lack of match sharpness showed.

Juan Carlos Valeron, one of a string of halftime substitutes, lifted the ball over the goalkeeper for the third three minutes after the break but the expected goalrush never came.

Raul missed two clear chances before the Ulsan side were rewarded for a hard-working display with a goal on 54 minutes, striker Kim Jun-hyup scooping in a cross from the right.

Spain, who take on Slovenia, Paraguay and South Africa in group B in the World Cup first phase, play their final warm-up match against first division side Hyundai Horang-i in Ulsan on Saturday.

SENEGAL STRUGGLE: Senegal beat Ecuador 1-0 in a World Cup warm-up courtesy of an own goal by defender Raul Guerron on Thursday.

Guerron put through this own goal in the 69th minute for what turned out to be the winner in a scrappy match at Bird Stadium in Tottori, western Japan, giving Senegal a boost ahead of their first appearance in the World Cup.

SETBACK FOR TUNISIA: Tunisia’s World Cup preparations suffered a setback on Thursday when they crashed 3-0 to Japanese club side Gamba Osaka at the Expo Stadium.

Tunisia begin their group H campaign against Russia on June 5 in Kobe, followed by Belgium in Oita on June 10 and co-hosts Japan in Osaka on June 14.

The North Africans play Denmark in their final warm-up match on Sunday.—Reuter