William Ekong has warned that the Super Eagles will on Tuesday face a completely different Argentina from the team they beat 4-2 in a friendly last year because Lionel Messi will feature this time.
Nigeria fought back from two goals down to win 4-2 in Krasnoder after they played an adventurous 3-5-2 formation in the second half.
Messi skipped the game to return to his club Barcelona.
“The Argentina game will be completely different though. We faced them in November. (Lionel) Messi wasn’t there but we know how they play,” Ekong said.
Nigeria have lost on all four occasions they met the South Americans at the World Cup.
But Turkey-based defender Ekong said the win over Iceland in Volgograd has done their confidence a world of good against the two-time world champion in Saint Petersburg.
“We got a lot of criticism after our first game so we needed the confidence boost,” he said.
“We took some great steps in the right direction and we should continue the way we performed in the second half against Iceland.”