Argentina got their world cup campaign off to a winning start by beating Nigeria with a goal from Gabriel Heinze in the 6th minute off the game.
The South Americans immediately got themselves off to a good start after taking advantage of some really poor defending by Nigeria from a corner kick. Heinze found himself in acres of space 12 yards out with no one marking him and was able to head home from Veron's corner. It looked like Nigeria were in for a long game from that moment on, but this wasn't quite to be the case.
Nigeria themselves had some good chances particularly down the left, with Obasi but it was Argentina that dominated possession, particularly in midfield and created the best chances. Barca's star man, Messi had at least 3 fantastic chances in the first half, which were saved by Nigeria's keeper, Enyeama. Higuain also missed several shooting opportunities and had Maradona up from his seat several times during the game.
It was a bit frustrating for the Argentinians, because for all their possession, chances and shots, they were still only ahead by 1, when in fact it could have been 5 or 6. Credit must be given to Nigeria though, in particular their keeper, Enyeama who was their hero on more than one occasion. Messi did what he does best - run at defenders, make them quiver in their boots and fashion some chances for himself. It was just a shame he couldn't finish them off, but his play was absolutely brilliant to watch, as always.
It was pretty much the same in the second half with Argentina, again being the more dominant of the two but unable to score another to seal the match. With 15 minutes of the game left to go, Nigeria actually began to provide a threat to Romero's goal and the Argentinian defence. Obafemi Martins was brought on by coach Lars Lagerback with 50 minutes of the game gone, and he had a great chance from outside the box. Uche also had a magnificent shot at goal when he was left unmarked in the Argentinian third but was unable to control his volley and shot over. For all Argentina's possession and chances, Nigeria could have really thrown a spanner into the works and nicked an unlikely draw. With Nigeria pressing, Argentina were forced to try and keep hold of the ball for the remaining minutes of the game. To the Nigerians' annoyance, Argentina simply passed the ball about with ease in midfield and managed to hold on, seeing out the win, putting them second, behind South Korea on goal difference.
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