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Yonathan Del Valle tucked in from close range on the stroke of half time to give Venezuela a shock 1-0 victory over 10-man tournament favourites Nigeria in group B's opening game of the FIFA Under-20 World Cup at the Al Salam Stadium in Cairo. The loss continues Nigeria's poor run against South American opposition, where they have only drawn once in seven previous outings. It could have been so different, as the early chances fell to the Flying Eagles. Haruna Lukman saw his free kick well saved by goalkeeper Romo, and then captain Odion Ighalo turned and let fly from 30 yards only to see the ball slip through goalkeeper Romo's hand and clip the crossbar and before going over. Despite the dominance, Venezuela were the ones who came closest to going ahead. Del Valle found himself with two chances in a 30-second period. He crashed a right footed shot against the post before forcing Oladele Ajiboye into a diving save to his left with a header ten yards from goal. With Italian referee Roberto Rosetti flashing cards at Nigeria like there was a prize at stake for it, Haruna Lukman chose the wrong time to fly into a studs-up tackle on Francisco Flores. Rosetti pulled out a straight red. Five minutes later, Venezuela took advantage. Louis Pena served up a delicious free kick into the box, and del Valle gobbled it with aplomb, slipping in between the Nigeria defence to squeeze home. Ten-man Nigeria dominated the second half, creating opportunities almost at will. Osanga's header was cleared by Jose Velaquez, and substitute Edet Ibok came closest when he almost turned in Sone Aluko's corner kick, but Romo touched it onto the post and away to safety. Samson Siasia made all three available substitutions, pushing Obiora Nwankwo back to his natural central midfield position where he took cool, assured control and further dominance followed. But it could not be turned into goals, and it was Venezuela who almost got a second goal on the break in the closing minutes, but Ibok covered well against Del Valle. Venezuela were in tears at the end, and Siasia's lads will have to play like they did in the second half when they meet Spain on Monday. Venezuela play Tahiti on the same day.