Nigeria could hardly complain about the outcome of their World Cup opener after losing 1-0 to Argentina in Group B on Saturday. An unmarked Gabriel Heinze scored the only goal on the sixth minute after heading home a Juan Veron corner kick. Argentina beat Nigeria in their previous two World Cup matches in 1994 and 2002 too. Diego Maradona's side could have scored a bigger victory if it wasn't for Nigerian goalie Vincent Enyeama, who was named man of the match for producing magnificent saves. Argentina boss Maradona made some controversial substitutions, which took a toll on his team's performance. The two-time World champions played with a deep-lying striker in Gonzalo Higuain ahead of Lionel Messi, Angel Di Maria and Carlos Tevez.
Enyeama The quartet gave their team the chance to have the upper hand most of the match but wasted many chances. Barcelona virtuoso Messi tried his luck twice on 18 and 37 minutes but Enyeama palmed his efforts on both occasions. Maradona replaced Veron with Maxi Rodriguez in an attempt to increase firepower when his team were taking the lead. Consequently, Javier Mascherano became alone in midfield. The last ten minutes saw Nigeria take control of the game but to no avail.
