select a team ---------- Europe: Belgium Croatia Denmark England France Germany Ireland Italy Poland Portugal Russia Slovenia Spain Sweden Turkey ---------- South America: Argentina Brazil Ecuador Paraguay Uruguay ---------- Africa: Cameroon Nigeria Senegal South Africa Tunisia ---------- Asia: China Japan Saudi Arabia South Korea ---------- CONCACAF: Costa Rica Mexico United States     Main page    Schedule    Stadiums

Batistuta goal beats Nigeria

Match winner Batistuta tries to break through Nigeria's defence

IBARAKI, Japan (CNN) -- Veteran striker Gabriel Batistuta guided Argentina to a 1-0 victory over Nigeria in their opening game.

He powered in a far-post header from a corner after 63 minutes to crown a match dominated by Argentina.

Nigeria worked hard in the Ibaraki heat but rarely threatened. Jay Jay Okocha came closest with a run and a powerful drive that was tipped over the bar.

But keeper Ike Shorunmu was the busier man, pulling off several sharp saves to deny Argentina.

Batistuta, 33, had been guilty of missing two good chances before heading in captain Juan Sebastian Veron's corner. It was his 56th international goal in 76 appearances and his 10th in World Cup finals.

Veron said: "We're very happy to have achieved an important vicotry over tough rivals. It was a hard match we dominated for most of the 90 minutes and had lots of chances to score but it was very difficult."

England and Sweden are the other teams in Group F, the toughest in the competition and labelled the "group of death."

Argentina Pablo Cavallero; Mauricio Pochettino, Diego Placente, Walter Samuel; Javier Zanetti, Diego Simeone, Juan Sebastian Veron, Juan Pablo Sorin; Ariel Ortega, Gabriel Batistuta, Claudio Lopez

Nigeria Ike Shorunmu; Celestine Babayaro, Taribo West, Isaac Okoronkwo, Efe Sodje, Joseph Yobo, Nwankwo Kanu, Jay Jay Okocha, Bartholomew Ogbeche, Julius Aghahowa, Garba Lawal

Referee Gilles Veissiere (France)