ATHENS, Aug 11 (AFP) - Argentina fired off an ominous warning to their rivals in the Olympic football tournament here Wednesday with a six-goal walloping of Serbia and Montenegro.
The South Americans' 6-0 drubbing of their European opponents in Group C was the highlight of the opening matches in the competition, which got underway two days ahead of Friday's opening ceremony.
In other matches, host nation Greece were made to sweat before fighting back from two goals down to force a 2-2 draw with Group A rivals South Korea while Australia were held 1-1 with Tunisia in Group C.
The remaining match saw Mali and Mexico play out a 0-0 draw in Group A.
On Wednesday's evidence Argentina -- bidding to make up for their heartbreak in the 1996 Olympic final when they lost to Nigeria -- should be the team to beat in Greece.
Argentina's experienced captain and central defender Roberto Ayala said his team had wanted to get a solid start to their campaign.
"We were very serious, especially in the first half," the Valencia stopper said. "After this the good beginning for the tournament came. We did not expect our opponents to be like this today. We were very serious for this match."
The Argentinians have never won the Olympic crown but produced the sort of display that has prompted many observers to install coach Marcelo Bielsa's men as favourites.
Manchester United rebel Gabriel Heinze played a starring role in the victory, the 26-year-old scoring once and setting up another.
Heinze, who was signed in the summer from Paris St Germain, was warned by Old Trafford boss Alex Ferguson to skip the Olympics or risk never playing for United. Cesar Delgado, Kily Gonzalez, Carlos Tevez (2) and Mauro Rosales were also on the scoresheet.
In Crete, Australia were fortunate to escape with a point from their Group C contest with African champions Tunisia.
Australia's Spanish Primera Liga over-age striker John Aloisi put the Olyroos in front in the final minute of the opening half, but Tunisia dominated the second half and were unlucky not to win.
Their equaliser came in the 69th minute through Esperance striker Ali Zitouni after Australian goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic failed to clear a high ball.
The ball was played back in from the right by substitute midfielder Mejdi Traoui for unmarked Zitouni to volley home from the edge of the six-yard box.
Tunisia defeated the highly-fancied Nigeria to qualify for the Olympics in finishing ahead of both Senegal and Nigeria in Group A of Africa's Olympic qualification competition.
The north Africans are competing at their fourth Olympic football tournament and have yet to progress past the first round, while Australia's best finish at the Olympics was fourth at the 1992 Barcelona Games.
South Korea were left kicking themselves in Salonika as Greece fought back to snatch a draw in Group A after the Asians had gone ahead through Kim Dong-Jin's clinical strike and Loukas Vyntra's own goal.
But Ioannis Taralidis halved the deficit with a rasping volley to set alarm bells ringing before Dimitrios Papadopoulos tucked home a penalty eight minutes from time to ensure a point.