Diego Maradona, Argentina coach
That was an important step for us today but we need to make a whole lot of improvements if we want to reach the Final. The game played out just as I thought it would, and if we’d converted the chances we made then we’d be talking right now about a fantastic Argentina performance. However, we were very wasteful and that’s something we need to sort out. If you let your opponent off the hook, you normally end up paying for it, although on this occasion they let us off the hook. Winning games gives you confidence and that’s the good thing, and if we can keep on picking up results then the players are only going to grow in self-belief.
Lars Lagerback, Nigeria coach
I am a little disappointed with the result although I am proud at how my players performed. Unfortunately we made an error that led to the corner they scored from, and at this level if you lose your concentration for a second you pay for it. That’s exactly what happened. If we hadn’t made that mistake, we might have come away with a draw.
Gonzalo Higuain, Argentina forward
It’s vital to get off on the right foot, especially with Korea [Republic] winning their game. This is only the first match, though, and there’s still a long, long way to go. It’s a shame we didn’t kill them off earlier, and on a personal note it was just one of those nights when I destined not to score. Like I said, it was a good start, which is the important thing.
Vincent Enyeama, Nigeria goalkeeper and Budweiser Man of the Match
It was a great night for me and to play against a team like Argentina was a fantastic opportunity for everyone. And I’m proud of the way we responded to their early goal.
Obafemi Martins, Nigeria forward
Losing by one goal to a team like Argentina is not the end of the world. They scored early on and that made things tough for us, though we did put in a good performance and we hope to turn the situation around. The match against Greece is so important now because we simply have to pick up three points. We’re still in with a good chance.
Martin Demichelis, Argentina defender
We needed to get off to a winning start and we did. It’s a good way to begin the tournament and the other encouraging thing is that we also created a lot of chances, although we need to keep working on our finishing. Even so it’s a big step towards our first major objective of reaching the Round of 16.
