Argentina will begin their world cup soccer campaign this evening taking on Nigeria in a Group 'B' encounter at Johannesburg. The match to begin at 7. 30 PM will see Legendary Diego Maradona unleash his team with their mercurial forwards Lional Messi, Carlos Tevaz snd Gonzalo Higuain in action to poach Nigerian goal posts. The two times world champions had beaten Nigeria twice in the world cup in 1994 and 2002. Nigerian team trained by Swedish coach Lars Lagerbackpins its hope on its veteran striker Nwankwo Kanu. In another Group B fixture South Korea will take on Greece at Port Elizabeth at 5 pm. In the Mid-Night fixture at Rustenburg, England will play against the United States.
Both the opening day matches ended on draw yesterday with hosts South Africa playing one – nil with Mexico and France and Uruguay encounter ending goalless. Hosts South Africa began their campaign with their forward Tshabalala become the toast of the entire nation scoring the first goal of the this world cup. Striker Marquez equalised with a close shot to rescue Mexico to a draw.
France winger Franck Ribery and Uruguay striker Diego Forlan showed flashes of their potential, but the fear of losing the opening game stifled offensive tactics for much of the match.
The 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa got underway yesterday with a spectacular opening ceremony at the 94,000 capacity Soccer City in Johannesburgwith a celebration of African culture. The Stadium, the largest in Africa, buzzed with the sound of thousands of vuvuzela trumpets as five jets flew overhead, but the stands were only partially full as many fans battled gridlock traffic to reach the venue. The stadium, resembling a massive African cooking pot, erupted in cheers as performers took to the field to mark the first time that sports' most watched tournament has been staged on the continent.
South African President Jacob Zuma declared the tournament open and FIFA President Jacob Blatter hailed it as the African cup. A giant dung beetle rolled a ball across the arena as Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu danced in the stands and 1,500 performers jived to African music.
But one of the loudest cheers was reserved for Nelson Mandela, whose image apperared on screens to a message of hope from him in song. He cancelled an appearance at the ceremony after the death of his great grand-daughter Zenani Mandela, 13, died in a car crash on Thursday.
