Batistuta hits four in Argentina warm-up
May 23, 2002
NARAHA, Japan (Reuters) - 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.
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.
EIGHT CHANGES
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 low Lopez 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.