Two-time World Cup winners Argentina, buoyed by three points from their first game against Ivory Coast, on Friday take on a Serbia-Montenegro side severely weakened by the loss of defensive pillar Nemanja Vidic. The 24-year-old Manchester United defender, who helped his team keep a virtually clean sheet during the final stages of qualifying, suffered torn knee ligaments during training on Monday. Meanwhile, star players in the fiery Balkan team squabbled with coach Ilija Petkovic about tactics in the wake of their lackluster opening 1-0 Group C defeat against the Netherlands.

"If we begin the match with the same team as that of Sunday, we do not have any chance against Argentina," midfielder Ognjen Koroman said.

Yet, the Serbs have little choice but to pull together and win against one of the strongest teams in Germany if they want to maintain their chances of qualifying from the "Group of Death". By contrast, Argentina's squad -- which suffered similar bickering when it failed to get beyond the first round in 2002 and recorded its worst World Cup performance in 40 years -- are fit, united and focused.

"We must be thinking of collecting three points," said defender Roberto Ayala, one of Argentina's best players in the 2-1 defeat of Ivory Coast in Hamburg last week. "We must draw out the best of the strengths we showed against Ivory Coast."

The experienced "Albiceleste" striking duo of Sevilla's Javier Saviola and Chelsea's Hernan Crespo were ruthless up front, pouncing on only a handful of opportunities against the West Africans.

A technically accomplished Serbia

"Serbia won't be as physically strong, but they have players who are technically very accomplished," midfielder Pablo Aimar cautioned on Wednesday.

Still, the Argentinians are conscious that with Mateja Kezman, Dejan Stankovic, and Savo Milosevic, their opponents can still rival their incisive finishing.

"I think that they (Serbia) will play more offensively because they lost the first game and they now have to win the second one," said Julio Cruz, who partners Stankovic at Inter Milan. "Dejan is the most complete kind of player you find in football. But I don't know if he can play for this team the same way as he plays for Inter," he added.

Argentina, which was shaken by Ivory Coast's "Elephants" in Hamburg last Saturday, will aim to improve its ball retention in midfield and the flow of the ball upfield, which Ayala found was lacking in the match. Coach Jose Pekerman's taste for strategy means he prefers to adapt the team to each adversary. He has so far given little idea if he will maintain the measured tactics for the tie that could secure Argentina's place among the last 16, despite pressure from the Argentine media for something more flamboyant.

But with Cruz, Barcelona's scintillating teenage prodigy Lionel Messi and Carlos Tevez -- another player once heralded as the next Maradona -- on hand and raring to play, Pekerman can only promise more sparks from his side.