Crespo the ace as Argentina go through

ARGENTINIAN striker Hernan Crespo scored two goals to inspire Argentina to a 3-1 victory over bitter rivals Brazil and guarantee them a place in the 2006 World Cup finals.

Defeat leaves Brazil - who have not won in Buenos Aires for nearly a decade - needing three points from their last three matches to guarantee a place in Germany, but will be relieved that with only two away victories in the campaign, just one of those games is away.

The hosts blew the reigning world champions away in the first-half, taking a 3-0 lead into the break, with Juan Riquelme’s goal sandwiched by Crespo’s double, sending the 60,000 crowd into raptures.

Veteran Brazil full-back Roberto Carlos scored a consolation goal in the 71st minute with a fierce free kick.

Argentina coach Jose Pekerman dedicated the qualification to former handler Marcelo Bielsa, who surprisingly quit late last year despite guiding the Argentinian Olympic side to the gold medal and the national side to top of the group.

Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said Argentina deserved their victory.

“The way they played in the first-half, Argentina deserved the victory. On Saturday against Paraguay (a 4-1 victory), we were in paradise. Tonight we were in hell.” he said.

In other matches, Ecuador stayed in third place despite crashing 3-0 away in Colombia, with Tressor Moreno scoring a brace to keep the hosts in fifth, which would entitle them to a play-off clash with the winners of the Oceania group.

Paraguay bounced back from that 4-1 hammering by Brazil to beat Bolivia by the same scoreline and retain fourth spot - just one point behind Ecuador - while Chile are sixth only due to inferior goal difference to Colombia after a 2-1 win over Venezuela.

Elsewhere, Mexico and the US posted comfortable wins to edge closer to claiming World Cup berths as qualifying for the North and Central America and Caribbean region reached the halfway stage.

Mexico defeated Trinidad and Tobago 2-0 in Monterrey to maintain their lead in the six-nation final qualifying group, while the United States defeated last-placed Panama 3-0 in Panama City to remain one point behind Mexico.

Costa Rica moved into third place with a narrow 3-2 victory over Guatemala in San Jose.

Three of the six teams advance directly to the finals in Germany, while the fourth-placed team plays off for a World Cup berth against a team from Asia.