Super Eagles midfielder, Victor Moses, says his country never expected to draw Lionel Messi and his Argentine team.
The three-time African champions will lock horns with the South Americans for the fifth time in six FIFA World Cup tournaments.
Of all the previous meetings, Argentina has come out on top on each of those.
Nevertheless, Moses, 26, Nigeria’s top scorer during the qualifying series, is confident the Eagles will give the two-time winners a run for their money.
“We don’t want to play against Messi,” the Chelsea star told the Mirror on Monday.
“But it is what it is. We’ve got to go and play our football and see what happens.
“Argentina is going to be scared of us as well. It’s all about football at the end of the day. Everyone at Chelsea was saying we’re going to get a thrashing and we’re not going to make it through the group stage.
“Hopefully, we can go out there and make the nation proud and get out of the group.”
Nigeria and Argentina will lock horns on June 26 inside the Krestovsky Stadium, St. Petersburg in the last group game.
