体坛英语新闻：Messi scores twice as Argentina lead Nigeria 2-1 at half time

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Argentina captain Lionel Messi scored twice to kept the South American powerhouse leading 2-1 at half time of the 2014 World Cup Group F match on Wednesday.

The two sides had met six times before the Wednesday match, and Argentina won four of them, including all three meetings on the World Cup stage.

Neither of the teams did any change to the squad or formation.

The Argentina fans, who created a deafening air in the Estadio Beira-Rio in Porto Alegre, didn't wait long for the first goal. In the third minute, Angel Di Maria's cut in the left side of the box booked him a one-and-one encounter with Nigerian goalkeeper Enyeama. The shot hit the post but Messi got the reflection and thundered it into the net on the half volley.

One minute later, Nigeria tied the score. Ahmed Musa got the ball from Babatunde, cut into the Argentina penalty area and curled in the ball into the net.

Only twice before the match there had been two goals in the first four minutes of a World Cup match: Austria-Czechoslovakia (3rd min and 4th min) in 1954 and Soviet Union-Hungary (2nd min and 4th min) in 1986.

Both sides did a good job in attacking afterwards. Di Maria hit a couple of shots on the left side, and Nigeria's counter-attacks stayed threatening.

Sergio Aguero went down inside the centre circle in the 37th minute. After an urgent attendance by the Argentina medical staff, the Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella decided to replace him with Ezequiel Lavezzi.

The Argentinians kept creating chances, and Messi's free kick in the 43rd minute turned out to be a great challenge to Enyeama.

However, Messi didn't miss the second chance of another free-kick, which was in the same position on the right side of the box. The Barcelona star curled the ball into the right corner of the net before Enyeama had time to react.