And although Lazio striker Crespo had been many people’s favourite to land the job, Batisuta, nicknamed Batigol, is the choice of coach Marcelo Bielsa.

‘‘This was not a last minute decision, nor was it traumatic. It was absolutely normal,’’ said Bielsa, who admits there is little to choose between the pair.

Batistuta, Argentina’s record scorer with 55 goals in 75 internationals, had the edge in experience and a formidable World Cup record of nine goals in the last two tournaments.

Crespo was Argentina’s top scorer in the South American World Cup qualifying tournament with nine goals.

Bielsa is eager to make use of both them, stressing: ‘‘What’s very clear to me is that our objective is to play a lot of games in this World Cup and for that we are going to need all the players in the squad.’’

Bielsa had to make another difficult selection on the left side of his attack and went for Claudio Lopez ahead of Kily Gonzalez.

‘‘Lopez fulfils the objective of crossing the ball in from the left behind the defence,’’ said Bielsa.

Pablo Cavallero, third choice goalkeeper behind Carlos Roa four years ago, makes his World Cup debut against the Nigerians.

Nigeria coach Festus Onigbinde had a clear-out in the wake of an African Nations Cup semi-final exit.

Striker Julius Aghahowa vowed that the Super Eagles will not be intimidated by the big names in Argentina’s side when they meet in Ibaraki.

‘‘I don’t want to know what name or face is behind the football. We don’t go out to look for big names or big stars in football,’’ he said.

‘‘We can see that there are other teams in this group but what e are after is victory in all games.’’