Diego Maradona landed his first World Cup victory as a coach this morning after Argentina defeated Nigeria with a final score of 2-1.
Only six minutes into the match, defender Gabriel Heinze scored on a diving header, driving the ball into the top left corner of the goal. The ball played came from a corner kick that was delivered by Juan Sebastian Veron.
While Argentina controlled 58 percent of the match, they were only able to find trhe back of the net once.
Argentina’s Lionel Messi had 103 touches on the ball and completed 69 passes, which rank second-highest of all individual players so far.
“The team made good moves, but we ended up suffering. That’s the law of soccer,” Maradona said. “Thank God we won the game.
”To begin a World Cup in winning fashion gives you a certain sense of calmness. The only thing that concerns me is that we won a big game.”
While the Nigerians were unable to control Messi, it was forward Gonzalo Higuain who failed to convert on a number of scoring opportunities.
“I felt comfortable,” Messi said. “We knew that Argentina had to show its class and I think we did.”
While unsuccessful, Messi made the most of the opportunities to score that were laid before him.
“He was very close to the ball” at all times, Maradona said. “Soccer wouldn’t be beautiful without seeing Messi touch the ball.” soccerjones.com
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