Ahead of the match between Argentina and Nigeria on Wednesday, the situation in Porto Alegre was a bit chaotic, thanks to die-hard fans. CTV News said that as early as Saturday, Argentina fans have been involved in several scuffles with other World Cup fans.
An incident over the weekend involved Argentina and Brazilian fans in a war of beer bottle and insult toss. It has been said that no one was seriously injured in the melee.
CTV News said Brazilian security officials are concerned about the fans of the Argentinians, considering that they are notorious for being hooligans. Although Porto Alegre, which is the venue of the Argentina-Nigeria match, was generally calm on Wednesday ahead of the game, Brazilian riot police were taking no chances and were prompt to settle scattered fights in the area. The Argentinian team is expected to be met with some 80,000 supporters to cheer on team in the game.
On the other hand, Argentina's massive fan base clearly had helped the team to secure a 3-2 victory against Nigeria. It was team captain Lionel Messi's day again when he led his team by scoring two of the three goals. Marcos Rojo provided the third goal for the Argentinians, which helped them to advance in the round of 16, Daily Mail said.
However, the Argentinians did not win without a tough fight from the Nigerians. Two minutes after Messi scored the first goal of the match, Ahmed Musa retaliated for his home team with a goal with the aid of his Nigerian teammate Michel Babatunde. Musa was again on fire in the 47th minute of the game when he struck again another goal for Nigeria, marking the second score equalizer of the game. Nigerian goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama might have allowed the three goals from the opposing team to go through, but displayed his fine stopping skills all throughout the game.
Argentina is set to play either Ecuador or Switzerland in the knockout rounds as the group winner, as group match runner-up Nigeria might be facing France in their next game, Daily Mail said.
