FORMER Saints enigmas Anders Svensson and Agustin Delgado were World Cup stars at the weekend.

Midfielder Svensson, who left Saints at the end of the 2004/05 season to rejoin Elfsborg in his native Sweden, was among the goals as his country thrashed Malta 6-0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifier.

Svensson also set up the other four goals Sweden scored before he was substituted in the 62nd minute with his side 5-0 up.

As for Delgado, the striker who history will record as an expensive St Mary's flop netted the second goal as Ecuador defeated group leaders Argentina 2-0 in Quito in their World Cup qualifying group.

Argentina, who still lead the ten-nation South American qualifying group with 28 points from 14 games, would have become the first team to qualify for Germany next year had they won.

Ecuador, who beat Brazil 1-0 in Quito last November, are third with 23 points as they attempt to qualify for their second successive World Cup.

Argentina had midfielder Esteban Cambiasso sent off after a scuffle which followed Delgado's last-minute goal and will miss this Wednesday's clash at home with Brazil.

Svensson scored the second Swedish goal as they thumped Malta for the second time in their qualifying group - they had previously won 7-0 away - to stay second in the table behind Croatia.

Mattias Jonson opened the Swedish scoring in the sixth minute from a Svensson corner before the former Saints midfielder curled in a long-range shot 13 minutes later.

In the 30th minute Christian Wilhelmsson latched onto a Svensson through ball to score and Juventus striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic made it 4-0 shortly before the break when he flicked in a Svensson pass.

The fifth came after 57 minutes when Svensson, despite being off balance, nudged the ball on for Arsenal midfielder Fredrik Ljungberg to score.

Substitute Johan Elmander completed the rout in the 81st minute.

Saints' Mikael Nilsson wasn't in the Swedish squad, having lost his place due to hardly featuring for his club in 2004/05.

Saints defender Claus Lundekvam played the 90 minutes as Norway drew 0-0 at home to group leaders Italy.

Former Saint Imants Bleidelis played for Latvia as they lost 2-0 in Russia.

Current St Mary's winger Neil McCann missed out on a possible appearance as Scotland claimed their first World Cup qualifying win, 2-0 against Moldova, due to an ankle injury picked up in training last Friday.

Midfielder Nigel Quashie had pulled out of the squad in midweek through injury.

McCann should be fit to travel for Wednesday's World Cup qualifier in Belarus.

Liverpool keeper Jerzy Dudek kept a clean sheet as Poland's 3-0 win in Azerbaijan took them ahead of England in group six, though Sven-Goran Eriksson's men have a game in hand.