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. The memorable feature of Argentina's performance in its opening World Cup match against Nigeria might be either some Lionel Messi inspired brilliance, or just a plain mess.
Argentina has come to South Africa with a powerful team, its group of elite goalscorers led by Barcelona's Messi. But the haphazard direction of coach Diego Maradona has created doubts over the team's readiness for the World Cup.
With Diego Milito and Sergio Aguero available on the bench, Argentina's scoring chances should be numerous. Yet, despite having some of the world's best at his disposal, Maradona's capacity to pull it all together and send a disciplined, well-drilled team onto the pitch is far from certain.
Some unexpected selection choices – such as the absence of Inter Milan defender Javier Zanetti – and his bizarre relationship with the media have also made it hard for Maradona to carry over the respect he had as a player to his current assignment. On the other hand , the speed of the Nigerians could cause problems for Argentina, which despite victories over Nigeria at the 1994 and 2002 World Cups shows nothing but careful admiration for the squad coached by Sweden's Lars Lagerback.
Still, Argentina is the favorite to win Group B, which also includes Greece and South Korea at Port Elizabeth at 5 pm. In the Mid-Night fixture at Rustenburg, England will play against the United States.
Earlier both the opening day matches ended on draw yesterday with hosts South Africa playing 1- 1 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.
