It was a much anticipated match with a lot at stake. In the end, two teams emerged victorious to keep their hopes of progressing to the Round of 16 alive. Argentina have been handed a lifeline, but considering Nigeria’s heroic performance against Iceland, the South American side will have to put up their best performance against them on June 26.
The game looked poised for a draw, as the the first half was insipid. Both teams seemed content on keeping the ball, with not much happening in the final third. Nigeria dominated possession, passing twice as much as the islanders. Iceland did create a couple of promising chances, but looked toothless in front of the goal. Iceland’s gameplay looked simple—play the ball high into the Nigerian box and hope their strikers manage to convert it. The crosses were good, but they lacked the sting in their shots. For Nigeria, they defended well. The lack of activity was evident as both the teams headed into the dressing room without registering a single shot on goal.
In the second half, Iceland played the ball into the box in the 47th minute, but before they could recover, Nigeria had countered at break-neck speed. Moses played a lovely ball to Musa, whose first touch was brilliant before volleying the shot into the back of the net. It was all Nigeria from there on. The African side attacked with vigour. Musa’s goal seemed to have added an extra spring to their steps. Musa and Moses continued to cause trouble for Iceland defenders. Musa nearly doubled their lead in the 73rd minute as he curled a shot over Iceland keeper Halldorsson, but the ball ricocheted off the bar. But Musa wasn’t one to stand down. He came back again in the 75th minute, tearing down the field on the left flank. He beat Kari Arnason, drew Halldorsson off his line, shimmied a couple of steps and then blasted the ball into the net to take their lead to two. The drama wasn’t over. Iceland were awarded a penalty, courtesy of VAR after the referee had initially waved play on. Sigurdsson took the shot from the spot. He managed to send the keeper the wrong way but his shot went over the bar. Messi’s curse must have done the trick here. If Iceland go out of the tournament, the two penalty misses in their opening two matches may sum up their World Cup diary.
Nigeria stood tall in the end. Iceland looked a completely different team compared to the way they contained Argentina. They only needed a draw against the Argentines, but today they had to come out of their half to win and in the end, that made all the difference. If the opening matches showed how the underdogs contained the big teams, this match certainly showed that they weren’t as good when playing for a win.
Nigeria go up to second place behind Croatia who are already through. The next round of fixtures in group D will decide who go through with Croatia. Looks like the World Cup isn’t over yet for Messi and Argentina. Their fate is in their own hands now as they will need to beat Nigeria if they are to go through. What a World Cup so far. It is all happening here.