In Group D, Nigeria, Bulgaria and Argentina finished the group stage in that order with two wins and one loss each, and all reached the round of 16. Greece as the fourth team, arguably the weakest team in the tournament, went home after the preliminary round. The three leading teams had exciting encounters with each other, with Nigeria in particular making a positive impression and only suffering a 1: 2 defeat against Argentina. The Bulgarians, who, under the direction of Stoitchkov, Ivanov and Letchkov, defeated the Argentines 2-0, were also strong. Diego Maradona was convicted of doping and banned for the remainder of the tournament.
Two goals from Dumitrescu and a goal from Batistuta (penalty kick) had given the Romanians a 2-1 lead in the first 18 minutes; Hagi set the end of the game on Romania's side with a 3-1 win against vice-world champions Argentina, who could not win against the Eastern Europeans without Maradona, whose team had their hair dyed blonde after the encounter.
The Argentine national team at soccer world championships
Colombia
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Paraguay
Peru
Australia
CD Universidad Católica
US Foggia
Real Zaragoza
Yokohama F. Marinos
Nigeria
Bulgaria
Greece
Romania
