Official thread: Nigeria VS. Argentina

[Always Laziali]

The 1st match of the 2002 FIFA WC , the match preview would be up very shortly . What are your views of this match ? Nigeria is a very competitive team with Kanu , West , Babayaro .... etc . So i expect this game to be very challenging for the Argentines , but if they can top the group , they would have an relatively easy 2nd round . Facing the runners up of France , Senegal , Uruguay and Denmark .

[valdanito]

I bleieve Argentina will win by more or 2 goals!Nigeria is very inconsistrant but can give us a headache, i expect Veron to bethe best man on the pitch

[Always Laziali]

But there is still 1 question on my mind.Who will start?Is it gonna be Crespo,Batistuta,Lopez or Caniggia

[valdanito]

canniggia is not fit! it is very likely crespo ir bati, ppl say bati should butresults say crespo it is very likelye Crespo will startt

[Always Laziali]

Batistuta was the man in 98 but now Crespo will destroy England !

[Always Laziali]

NARAHA, Japan (Reuters) - Gabriel Batistuta will lead Argentina's attack in their opening World Cup group F match against Nigeria on Sunday, coach Marcelo Bielsa has said.

'This was not a last minute decision, nor was it traumatic. It was absolutely normal,' Bielsa told a news conference about his selection of Batistuta ahead of Hernan Crespo.

Crespo appeared the more likely choice after practice games in the last 10 days at Argentina's World Cup base, 200 kilometres north of Ibaraki where they play Nigeria.

Bielsa said he had weighed up the form of both players in the days leading up to his decision, but he has always argued that there is little to choose between them.

'What's very clear to me is that our objective is to play a lot of games in this World Cup and for that we are going to need the players (in the squad),' he said.

Batistuta, Argentina's record scorer with 55 goals in 75 internationals and leading World Cup marksman with nine goals in the last two tournaments, has been vying with Crespo for his country's number nine shirt throughout Bielsa's three and a half year reign.

Crespo was Argentina's top scorer in the South American World Cup qualifying tournament with nine goals.

Bielsa also opted for Claudio Lopez instead of Kily Gonzalez on the left flank of the attack.

'(Claudio Lopez) fulfils the objective of crossing the ball in from the left behind the defence,' Bielsa said.

The line-up contains eight members of Daniel Passarella's 1998 World Cup squad, seven of whom played in the 2-1 defeat to the Netherlands in the quarter-finals.

Pablo Cavallero, third choice goalkeeper behind Carlos Roa four years ago, makes his World Cup debut.

The Argentines left for Ibaraki after Bielsa's press conference.

Team: (3-4-3): Pablo Cavallero; Mauricio Pochettino, Roberto Ayala, Walter Samuel; Javier Zanetti, Diego Simeone, Juan Sebastian Veron, Juan Pablo Sorin; Ariel Ortega, Gabriel Batistuta, Claudio Lopez.


Crespo's hopes of being in the team is dashed,but hopefully Batistuta can produce the goals for Argentina tomorrow!

[valdanito]

well.....:rolleyes: i really wanted to see Crespo on the pitch

[Always Laziali]

Yes,he will definitely play but he may have to wait for a while though.

[valdanito]

welll we won!!!!!!!!!!

Arg 1- nig -0

Bati gollll!!!!!!!!!

and cavallero was a dissapointment
subs:
Aimar for Veron kily for Lopez and Crespo for bati

mnore later on.....

[Flukey Lukey]

You didn't look all that convincing too me. Although you always looked like scoring from corners, mainly due to very poor nigerian defending.

Veron had a bright start, but was out the game after 30 minutes. Simeone looked off the pace and did nothing.
Batigol isn't as good as he used to be obviously but still knows how to put the ball in the back of the net.

You will need Ayala back for sure when you meet us.

The good thing for both Argentina and England is that Nigeria will find it hard to qualify now.

[Always Laziali]

Face it,we had 20 shots and 13 was on target.Batistuta needed time to get warmed up.After all he had a very miserable season with Roma,i think he is all ready.But you had better watch out for Sorin and Ortega who were both superb today.By the way Nigeria had 7 shots and 2 was on target.13 compared to 2 it is more than 80% less than Argentina's shot ratio.

[Flukey Lukey]

Argentina certainly outplayed Nigeria i admit that. I could see a couple of times your defence was vunerable to a forward running at them.

[Always Laziali]

We lacked our most fastest defender Roberto Ayala.That's how vulnerable England will be without Sol Campbell or Martin Keown.

[Flukey Lukey]

We have Campbell. I'm not sure what you're on about with Keown. Ferdinand will play alongside Campbell, although it should be Rio and Southgate.

What is Ayala's injury?

[Massimo]

Argentina deserved the win........we played better almost all the match........:smoking: .......its good that we started the WC with the right leg........;) .......
And pathetic ENGLAND dissapointed with a draw against sweden.....:rolleyes: ......now Englands chances of qualifacation looks far from ever.......cos they'll be DEMOLISHED by ARGENTINA......:evil: ......i can't wait for it........:mad: :silly: :D ...

anyway.........i hope AYALA returns quickly as possible......i don't know axactly whats his injury.........anybody got some information????????


fair well my fellow ARGENTINA fans..........:smoking:

[valdanito]

Bati gooolllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!!

well we will demolish english, i can smell it!

hopefully Crespo will start

[Always Laziali]

Crespo looked a bit edgy in front of goal against Nigeria.I would fancy Crespo coming on as a substitute to replace Batigol against Nigeria.

[valdanito]

Crepo played great! thats all their is to say

[Always Laziali]

Hopefully he regains his form.