体坛英语新闻：Maradona satisfied with players' performance in 1-0 win over Nigeria

JOHANNESBURG, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Argentina coach Diego Maradona was satisied with his players' performance after a 1-0 victory over Nigeria in a Group B match at the 2010 World Cup finals on Saturday.

"I really hope that my men will make the most of the support from Argentina's fans, the people in the stadium, I hope they can make the most of that so they can excel and improve," Maradona said.

"My players will then have the flavour of winning. If our players keep winning the games they are going to feel the need, the hunger to win the game."

Maradona was especially satisfied with Messi, who looked almost at his Barcelona best throughout the match.

"We've talked about this and I want Messi close to the ball," he said. "As long as he has fun close to the ball, then we will all be fine. If you take the ball away from him it would be like taking chocolate away from a kid. He produced magic on the field today."

Thus Maradona admitted the failure to kill off Nigeria with a second goal did make him and his team a little nervous.

"We suffered a little bit by not converting all those chances, we've won the match but when you fail to take those chances you could end up with a draw every minute." Maradona said.