ROBERTO AYALA spoke of his delight after becoming only the third player to reach a century of appearances for Argentina.

Ayala brought up the milestone in his country's 2-0 friendly win over Angola on Tuesday to join the retired Diego Simeone (106) and Javier Zanetti (102) in the hundred club.

"It's a very special day for me. Very special. I'm very happy for entering the history of AFA (the Argentinian Football Association)," said the Valencia defender. Now Ayala is planning to follow up that landmark with another red-letter day - holding aloft the World Cup trophy.

"I hope to go on making history with a world title," he added.

Regarding the friendly itself, Ayala admitted he expected Angola to be "more aggressive."

We were very comfortable, especially during the second half," he said. "Every positive result is useful, always knowing that we can   improve our level more."