Argentina's win meant they reached the second round along with Croatia from Group H. It equals the best victory of the tournament, the Dutch defeated South Korea 5-0 last night.

Argentina's other two goals were scored by Ariel Ortega who broke Jamaica's resistance with the opening goal in the 32nd minute and got a second in the 55th.

Batistuta scored after 72, 79 and 83 minutes to seal Argentina's emphatic victory.

Jamaica initially looked as if they were going to make Argentina battle all the way for the points, but they made their opponents task a lot easier on the stroke of half-time when Darryl Powell was sent off for a second bookable challenge from behind on Ortega.

He had been booked as early as the fourth minute for his first clattering tackle and Norwegian referee Rune Pedersen had no hesitation in sending him off for thesecond.

With Powell off, Jamaica's already tough task became even more difficult and although they put together some well-worked moves and threatened to score once or twice, the South Americans were never in any danger of surrendering the points.

Argentina went ahead after 32 minutes with a goal created by Jaun Veron who provided the through pass for Ortega whose right foot shot gave goalkeeper Warren Barret no chance. Ortega then showed what damage he could do with his left foot 10 minutes into the second half when he made it 2-0.

Claudio Lopez sent Ortega on his way and he darted through the gap between defenders Christopher Dawes and Peter Cargill before drawing Barrett and scoring with his left foot.

Batistuta scored his second goal of the tournament to put Argentina 3-0 up after 73 minutes.

Ortega was involved in that goal too, providing the final pass for the Fiorentina striker to crack home with his right foot into the far corner of the net.

Batistuta added a typical second six minuteslater, firing home from the edge of the box, and added the fifth from the penalty spot after Dawes brought down Ortega in the box.

The only blot on an otherwise perfect sunny day for the South Americans was losing defender Roberto Sensini with an injury after only 25 minutes.

But Argentina go into next Friday's game against Croatia with both teams sure of a place in the last 16 and only the first and second position in the group to be decided.