Argentina coach Diego Maradona has made a plea to all nations for fair play during the World Cup (4/9 Argentina 16/5 draw 13/2 Nigeria – match betting).

Maradona, who scored the infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal against England in 1986, made the appeal at his press conference ahead of Argentina’s opening group B match against Nigeria in Johannesburg on Saturday.

“Let there really be fair play, let the referees understand what the words fair play mean.”

Maradona, who captained the Argentineans to World Cup glory in 1986 and led them to the final four years later, claimed he had fallen foul to the more unsporting side of the game during his side’s opening game in 1990 against Cameroon.

“When the fair play [slogan] was introduced in 1990 I was kicked so hard they almost knocked my head off against Cameroon,” Maradona said

Cameroon went on to win that game 1-0 thanks to an Emanuel Kunde goal despite having two players sent off. Despite the loss, Argentina went on to finish runners up, losing out to West Germany 1-0 in the final.

Maradona also told the press that he believed that the finals could see Lionel Messi cement his place in footballing history and could even see him eclipse Maradona himself as the greatest Argentinean to play the game.

Argentina go into the game on the back of a 5-0 victory against Canada and will be looking for their third tournament victory after coming out on top in 1978 and 1986.

One of the main talking points in the build-up to the tournament has been Maradona’s selection policy which has seen him leave out Champions League winners Estaban Cambiasso and Javier Zanetti in favour of a number of Argentinean based players.

The Albiceste are expected to start with a three man attack with Real Madrid’s Gonzalo Higuain playing through the middle and Lionel Messi (11/8 L Messi 5/4 D Villa 3/1 draw – Goalscorer Match Bet) and Carlos Tevez playing in the wide positions.

The experienced pair of Walter Samuel and Martin Demechlis are likely to partner each other in defence while the experienced Juan Sebastian Veron is expected to start alongside the skipper Javier Macherano in the midfield.

There is a slight doubt over right-back Nicolas Otamendi and Newcastle’s Jonas Guiteirrez is likely to deputise.

Nigeria are without their talisman John Obi Mikel, who has been ruled out of the tournament with a knee problem. His place is likely to be taken by Monaco midfielder Lukman Haruma, while Chinedu Obasi is likely to get the nod up front alongside Yakubu.

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