Messi, a Barcelona midfielder, finished as the top scorer in tournament with six goals. Nigeria was seeking Africa's first title in FIFA's championship for players under 20.

Defending champion Brazil finished in third place in the three-week, 24-nation event, defeating Morocco 2-1 behind late goals by Edcarlos and Rafael Sobis.

Messi, who turned 18 during the tournament, was voted the winner of the Golden Ball as the best player of the competition, beating Nigerians John Obi Mikel and Taye Taiwo.

``Messi played a great tournament, but the championship was won by the whole group,'' coach Francisco Ferraro said.

Messi scored in the 40th and 72nd minutes. Nigeria's goal came in the 53rd minute on a spectacular diving header by Chinedu Ogbuke.

Before a sellout crowd of 25,000 that included FIFA president Sepp Blatter, both teams combined good defense with sparkling offense fueled by Messi for Argentina and John Obi Mikel for Nigeria.

Argentina opened the scoring when Messi converted a penalty kick he had forced. The star playmaker was on a 40-yard run through the Nigerian defense when Dele Adeleye floored him near the goal line.

Nigeria evened the score 13 minutes later on Ogbuke's header from 10 yards out in which he reached back and connected on a cross by Olubayo Adefemi from the right side.

The deciding goal was set up when Monday James brought down substitute Sergio Aguero. This time, Messi chose the right corner of the net for his penalty kick.

``If you play in the final like this, you don't give up penalties like that,'' Nigeria coach Samson Siasia said.