The teams are:
Argentina: Romero, Gutierrez, Demichelis, Samuel, Heinze, Veron, Mascherano, Di Maria, Tevez, Messi, Higuain.
Nigeria: Enyeama, Odiah, Yobo, Shittu, Taiwo, Kaita, Etuhu, Haruna, Obasi Ogbuke, Yakubu, Obinna.
90 + 3 min: Full time. That’s all folks. Argentina hold out, meaning that Maradona’s World Cup gets off to a solid start. Did they deserve it? On balance, yes, but they will be very unimpressed with their inability to convert their chances, and the suspicion that they will be undone by better teams later in the tournament lingers on. Garlands go to Enyeama, who kept Argentina in sight.
90 min: Sedate finish to this match. Messi tries to up it and breaks into the box, but Kaita flicks the ball away at the last minutes. The fourth official signals four minutes added time, which goes down like a lead balloon with Maradona.
87 min: Yakubu, or “Yak” as Moyes calls him, swivels and has a decent effort from range. Three minutes left – Argentina, believe it or not, are actually having to hang on.
85 min: John Ley saw the laser pen too: “Is it me or is somebody using a laser pen to put the Argies off. Serious problem for Fifa if that’s happening.”
84 min: Enyeama denies Messi again from inside the area – the keeper is man of the match for certain – and then Uche skies a volley over the bar at the other end. That was a real chance. Argentina are leaving a lot of space in their area. Feels like a goal is on the way. But at which end?
77 min: Someone in the crowd is shining a laser pen onto the pitch. Messi is not amused. While they sort it out, time to ponder. Argentina look, as expected, terrifying when they are going all out, but they could be badly exposed by a better side. Milito is now on for, surprise surprise, Higuain.
73 min: Nigeria playing with 10 men at the moment, as Taiwo got caught on his follow-through and has been taken off for treatment. His game looks over. Nigeria need to bring on a replacement on ASAP. Hardly ideal, a three-man defence against Messi and Tevez.
71 min: Worrying times for Maradona as Taiwo, the defender, takes a long shot which goes a whisker wide of the post.
69 min: Time for Milito?
66 min: Higuain has a shot in the area saved (again), and Nigeria have a break of their own. Could have scored. Argentina need another goal. Fact.
65 min: Tevez breaks on the counter, supplies Messi, who shoots just wide. Big miss that. Argentina had four men with just two Nigerian defenders to beat.
64 min: Kaita has a go from outside the area. His shot was always rising, but it was another decent chance. Argentina are not safe. The Nigerians are upping their level, but every time they find themselves with a decent chance the decision-making is off. I agree with Moyes: their set-pieces need improvement too.
60 min: Messi goes on a 50-yard, Maradona-esque run, breaks into the Nigeria area and earns himself a corner. Unstoppable.
56 min: Long passes are being mislaid because of the ball, according to David Moyes. The players are finding it hard to read the flight, he says.
55 min: Argentina bring Arsenal to mind. Great passing and aggression – goes without saying – but they haven’t done enough with their opportunities. They could get stung here if Nigeria can mount a proper attack.
53 min: Haven’t really mentioned Tevez, but he’s industrious as usual. He, Higuain and Messi are fizzing round the Nigerian back four like super-charged electrons. Nigeria don’t know who’is coming and who’s going.
49 min: We nearly got another rendition. Messi tries a cute flick, but it is a little too slight and the ball sneaks wide.
48 min: There were some quite remarkable celebrations from Diego Milito when Argentina scored. Looked like he was having a fit. Has to be one of the weirdest celebrations of the tournament so far.
46 min: Interesting comments from Alan Shearer during the break about Gutierrez. He worked with him at Newcastle, of course, and he was adamant that Gutierrez should not be playing at right-back. “He’s an attacking winger,” he said. Lagerback will surely have told his players, Obasi Ogbuke in particular, to target the Newcastle man – especially as he is on a yellow.
WRAP: A scary opening 15 minutes from Argentina, but they didn’t quite deliver afterwards. Messi is fulfilling all expectations, and more, but Gutierrez exposed at right-back, while the less said about Higuain’s efforts on goal the better. The jury is still out on whether Maradona has this coaching malarky worked out.
45 min: Veron sweeps a free-kick over the bar, prompting David Moyes to consider the World Cup ball. I haven’t seen any supernatural swerves myself, but the Everton manager thinks that the players are finding it tough to get the ball to dip. Wolfgang Stark blows the whistle and we’re half way there.
44 min: It’s a hard life for Mark Ogden, who is in a bar watching the game apparently. “In Newlands bar,” he writes on Twitter. “Boks fans watching Arg-Nig while chanting ‘Who the f*** is Alice!’ Strange scenes.”
40 min: Lagerback is a pretty level-headed sort of fellow, and he usually speaks some sense, but on the evidence so far, his prediction that his side would marginalise Messi was frankly absurd. Gutierrez, meanwhile, is getting flustered and he becomes the first to get booked.
37 min: Man of the match award could be given to Enyeama already. Just produced another fantastic save from a curling shot by Messi. Enyeama twisted his body and used his left hand to flick the ball – which was heading into the top left corner – out for what should have been a corner.
33 min: Not at all convinced about Gutierrez. Never have been. Nigeria have a chance here if they can put him under a little more pressure. It has to be said though, they are only still in it because Enyeama, their keeper, has come up with a couple of super saves. Oh, and because Higuain couldn’t score if he was standing in the goal, from the looks of it.
31 min: Diego has his hands behind is back, looking rather more comfortable now and it is translating to his players. They have started to pace themselves and are controlling possession. Happy to make the Nigerians play a game of chase.
29 min: Sure enough, Gutierrez looks dodgy and Obasi Ogbuke pulls one across Romero. This might not be as straight-forward as we first thought…
25 min: Half chance for Kaita, with a volley outside the area. Ambitious admittedly, but he wasn’t closed down at all. Room for exploitation, as Mr Smith suggests? The Nigerians certainly seem to be perking up.
22 min: Higuain could have made it two. No, scratch that. Should have made it two. Put it straight at the keeper from about six yards, to the fury of his boss, who is a bundle of nervous energy on the sideline. Tevez supplied the through ball to Higuain. Can’t believe Nigeria are only one down.
21 min: Rory Smith writes on Twitter: “Has any team in the #worldcup got a weak spot as obvious as #arg? Great front four, great midfield, two full-backs ripe for exploitation.”
19 min: Nigeria need to hold onto possession much better. Messi is running rings around them. Largerback needs to get his men to calm down, slow the pace and string together some easy passes. They could do with cutting down the space in midfield too. Far too much room for Messi and Co.
15 min: Anyone bet on Heinze scoring Argentina’s first goal? Meanwhile, Messi almost gets through but the keeper gets there just in time. Still, this is very ominous for Nigeria fans.
13 min: I must say, Maradona is looking rather smart in his grey suit. Pacing the technical area is betraying the nerves though.
10 min: This could be embarrassing for Nigeria. Maradona’s guys are looking every bit worth their billing as the tournament’s third favourites. They could be three up already – Vincent Enyeama pulled off a good save to deny Messi from distance.
6 min: GOAL! Argentina 1-0 Nigeria. (Heinze ‘6)
Flying header from Heinze. Great finish from the former Manchester United defender, from a corner. Flicked his header right into the top left corner.
5 min: The Argentines are finding space, Nigeria giving the ball away and Messi performing prodigies already. Tries a chip, saved.
3 min: End to end already. Nigeria whip a shot across the face of goal, but Messi is down the other end, disappears through three defenders, Yobo one of them, and sets up Higuain, but the Real Madrid striker muffs it. Poor. Great from Messi though. Surprised?
3 min: Already had a little weaving run from Messi, but the Nigerians survive.
1 min: Thanks to John Thompson, who has emailed in to say: “Why do they insist on playing all the matches in stadiums infested with swarms of killer bees. This noise is driving me to distraction!”
15:00: We’re under way!
14:58: Painful. I’ve seen a similar thing happen at Villa. Brad Friedel scored a direct hit on Craig Gardner’s backside. Gardner told me it was pretty painful. Maradona is obviously the only manager who isn’t worried about injuries. Anyway, say what you like about him, he can come up with some classic quotes. This one from earlier, for example: “I tell my players that 30 days of sacrifice for the chance to kiss the World Cup is nothing in the life of a man.” Eat your heart out, Eric Cantona.
14:55: The teams are on the pitch. While we wait for the usual handshakes and what-not, take a look at this unorthodox training session under Maradona.
14:53: The photographers are going crazy over Maradona who has ditched the tracksuit in favour of a suit and has now made his way to the dugout. Poor Lagerback is being totally ignored. Meanwhile, our friends at Castrol Football have come up with a nice stat: Argentina apparently have the tightest defence of all teams at the World Cup, having only allowed their opponents, on average, four shots on target per game since 1966.
14:47: So, six players from the Premier League on show, and it looks as though Maradona is going to play a 4-3-3 formation in an attempt to get Lionel Messi as involved as possible. Nigeria manager Lars Lagerback has a plan to neutralise him though, apparently. “I’m not fearful or intimidated by the thought of facing Messi,” he said. “I think I know how to stifle Argentina.” He’d better hope so.