Arjen Robben jinked past two defenders on the wing and crossed to the near post where Hernan Crespo [Images] sent a glancing header across the face of goal and Didier Drogba [Images] hammered the ball into the net.

This piece of action and any number of moves involving the three Chelsea forwards could have occurred on any match-day afternoon or evening in the Premier League this season.

From June 9, however, the trio will be preparing to face each other in first-round matches at the World Cup and all training pitch camaraderie will go out of the window.

Throw Atletico Madrid's former Chelsea striker Mateja Kezman into the mix and you complete the English champions' connection in Group C, regarded as the toughest of the tournament in Germany [Images].

Crespo will lead the attack in an Argentina team desperate to improve on their shock elimination at the group stage in Asia four years ago, the twice world champions' worst finals since 1962.

Argentina should go through to the next round with Robben's Netherlands, the team with the best record against their group rivals in competitive matches.

The Dutch, in fact, have lost only once to Argentina in seven meetings including friendly matches. They lost the one that mattered most, the 1978 World Cup final in Buenos Aires won by Mario Kempes's side.

GLAMOUR GAME

Marco van Basten's [Images] team will be looking for a third World Cup win over the Argentines after Johan Cruyff's team crushed them 4-0 in West Germany in 1974 and Dennis Bergkamp's side won 2-1 in the Marseille quarter-final in 1998.

Loyalties in the Dutch Royal family will be divided when the teams meet in the glamour game of the first round in Frankfurt on June 21 which will be attended by Crown Prince Willem Alexander and his Argentine wife Maxima.

Serbia & Montenegro may be a weaker team than the former Yugoslavia on paper since the break-up of the Balkan federation but they are a tough unit that conceded one goal in 10 qualifiers on their way to their first major tournament.

The Dutch know the goal-poaching qualities of Kezman well, though, since he scored 105 in four seasons for PSV Eindhoven before his 2004 move to Chelsea, indicating the threat posed by the World Cup new boys.

Also playing in their first World Cup are Ivory Coast, on paper the weakest of the four teams in the group but not a team to be underestimated after reaching the African Nations Cup final in Egypt under Drogba's leadership.

The Ivorians have met Argentina once, when they were African champions in 1992, going down 4-0 in Riyadh in the King Fahd Cup, predecessor to the Confederations Cup.

With a strong, well organised defence, they should be harder to beat for Jose Pekerman's team in Hamburg on June 10 when they will look to emulate a famous African victory over Argentina, Cameroon's 1-0 upset of Maradona's world champions in 1990.