May 31, 2002

YOKOHAMA, Japan, June 1 (Reuters) - Facts and figures ahead of Sunday's World Cup group F match between Argentina and Nigeria:

Match venue : Ibaraki, Japan

Match referee: Gilles Veissiere (France)

Linesmen : Frederic Arnault (France)

Heiner Muller (Germany)

Kick-off : 0530 GMT

Coaches: Argentina- Marcelo Bielsa Nigeria- Festus Onigbinde

World ranking : Argentina - 2 Nigeria - 27

Squad average age : Argentina - 28.48 Nigeria - 23.39

Most capped current player:

Argentina - Diego Simeone 104

Nigeria - Augustin "Jay Jay" Okocha 56

Population: Argentina - 37 million Nigeria - 126 million

Previous meetings:

1994 World Cup Argentina 2 Nigeria 1 U.S.

1995 Confederations Cup Argentina 0 Nigeria 0 Riyadh

Previous World Cup appearances:

Argentina - 1930, 1934, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1974, 1978

(champions), 1982, 1986 (champions), 1990, 1994,

1998

Nigeria - 1994, 1998

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Claudio Caniggia scored both goals in Argentina's 2-1 win

over Nigeria at the 1994 World Cup

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Argentina are unbeaten in their last 16 competitive matches.

Their last defeat was to Brazil 3-1 in a World Cup qualifier.

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Nigeria have lost their last two World Cup finals matches, to

Paraguay and Denmark.

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Julius Agahowa will become the youngest Nigerian at a World

Cup if he plays. He was born on 12th February 1982.

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Sunday's game will be the fifth of 64 matches at this year's