13 years ago, Vincent Enyeama 🇳🇬 🦅 had one of the best individual efforts in the 19th World Cup editio(South Africa 2010) thwarting Messi and his teammates. In 2010, Nigeria faced Argentina in the group stage match (Group B). Although Nigeria were the underdogs against Maradona’s men as Argentina was stacked with players like Gonzalo Higuain, Lionel Messi, Carlos Tevez, Angel Di Maria, Sergio Aguero….
Argentina 🇦🇷 expected the match to be a walk in a park but this encounter in Johannesburg was different Argentina dominated the ball, bossed things territorially and carved open Nigeria It felt like Argentina vs Vincent Enyeama🧤as Enyeama made not less than six saves to deny Maradona’s men from securing a bigger win. Vincent Enyeama made six saves, five stood out: four to deny Messi and one to deny Gonzalo Higuain.
First save🧤
: In the fourth minute, a poor square ball from right-back Chidi Odiah gave Carlos Tevez control within the Super Eagles’ half. Instead of the obvious through-ball to Higuain, Carlos Tevez sent a short pass to Messi who took a touch and attempted to shoot into the top corner, but Enyeama sprinted to his left and got a powerful right hand to the ball.
Second save 🧤
: After receiving the ball wide right from Tevez, Messi ran infield with the ball uncontested , partly aided by Tevez whose run confused Taye Taiwo and Dickson Etuhu, skipped past Chinedu Obasi’s desperate last ditch tackle before curling an effort from 20 yards that the Nigerian goalkeeper saved low down to his right…He was winning the battle and was the reason why the Super Eagles dint go down 2-0 in the early minutes in the first half.
Third save 🧤
: The super Eagles were unable to cope with Argentina’s all-out attack approach Nigeria lost a midfield fight, and Messi released Tevez in oceans of space right outside the center circle. Taiwo departed his position to shut down the forward on the ball after spotting the space criminally afforded Argentina, prompting Higuain to position himself in the space opened by the left-back. The Manchester United striker passed to the their target man , who was expertly halted by Enyeama, who ran out quickly to reduce the angle and save with his left thigh. It was especially frustrating for the striker because he had missed a tap-in from the outside of the six-yard box in the third minute.
Fourth save 🧤
: This was possibly the greatest of the bunch. Argentina won a free kick within Nigeria’s half by the right touchline seven minutes before halftime, and the super Eagles expected a Messi cross. However, in what appeared to be a practice drill, the former Barcelona forward quickly exchanged passes with Di Maria and Messi, now inside the Super Eagles’ penalty area, cut inside and curled another effort on goal but was unexpectedly denied by Enyeama for the third time, this time by the goalkeeper’s left-hand fingertips.
Fifth save 🧤
: Neither player faced each other again until the last 10 minutes. Inside Nigerian territory, the Ex Barcelona star exchanged rapid passes with Di Maria twice and found himself eyeball-to-eyeball with Enyeama, but the in-form goalkeeper saved with his right knee for the fourth time of the afternoon. Messi sat on the turf, smiled wryly, and even cast a short glance at Vincent Enyeama. The shot stopper yelled at his defenders, clearly wanting more from them.
At the end Nigeria 🇳🇬 lost to Argentina by a margin of 1-0 A Gabriel Heinze header in the sixth-minute saw Diego Maradona’s side win 1-0.
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