Nigeria will be seeking revenge for two previous World Cup losses at the hands of star-studded Argentina on Saturday at Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg in the teams’ World Cup Group B opener.
The Nigerian Super Eagles lost 2-1 to the South Americans at the 1994 World Cup, and eight years later the West Africans fell by a lone goal to the Albiceleste.
Olympique Marseille left-back Taye Taiwo, who will come face-to-face with club teammate Gabriel Heinze, declared revenge will come on Saturday.
“This is payback time. I played against Argentina in the final of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in the Netherlands in 2005 and we lost 2-1. I was not happy that we lost that day in Utrecht against Argentina because we worked so hard,” said Taiwo.
A certain Lionel Messi was the hero on that day in Utrecht, grabbing both goals for Argentina from the penalty spot.
Five years on, the Barcelona star forward is the best player in the world and again the spotlight has been beamed on this impish genius.
“People talk a lot about Messi, forgetting that there are other very good players in the Argentina team, such as (Carlos) Tevez and (Diego) Milito. It’s a team game and we also have our own stars for the day,” insisted Wolfsburg striker Obafemi Martins.
“We know Messi is a good player and we can’t allow him to just roam around the park,” added Taiwo.
There is no doubting the class of Messi, but questions have been raised about whether he can reproduce his club form for his country under volatile coach Diego Maradona — a living god during his playing days in leading Argentina the 1986 World Cup title in Mexico.
Messi is widely seen as the new Maradona, but Maradona has not exactly set the world on fire with his coaching skills with former England manager Graham Taylor describing the Argentina coach as “a mad hatter of a manager”.
Maradona used as many as 70 players before Argentina scrapped through the qualifying tournament for the 2010 World Cup.
Against Nigeria, Maradona revealed he will play with a three-man backline another three upfront in the form of Messi, Tevez and possibly Inter’s Milito.
The coach has also been quoted as saying he will attack Nigeria “like bees”.
The Super Eagles, on the other hand, will be missing Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel after he failed to recover in time from a knee injury he suffered in April during an English Premier League fixture.
In Mikel’s absence, coach Lars Lagerback has adopted a more cautious approach in the middle, playing three defensive midfielders — Dickson Etuhu, Yusuf Ayila and Sani Kaita — with Monaco youngster Lukman Haruna brought on later in the game to add some creativity in the engine room.
The Super Eagles are therefore most likely to begin with the starting XI who beat fellow World Cup finalists North Korea 3-1 on Sunday in their final warm-up game with either Austria-based Rabiu Afolabi or Danny Shittu from Bolton playing alongside Joseph Yobo in the heart of the back four.