Croatia and Argentina have made their way to the knockout stage of the tournament. Iceland and Nigeria came really close but could not finish the job. Both teams are now packing their bags to get back home.
First Halves
The first half was different for Argentina right off the bat. One of its most notable lineup changes for today was swapping keeper Willy Caballero for Franco Armani.
Argentina held on to the ball for the opening minutes, nonetheless they looked nervous as they were imprecise, giving away balls. Nigeria, on the other, seemed calmed despite not having the ball nearly as much as La Albiceleste.
In the meantime…
There was not much going on the Iceland vs Croatia match, it was tight and Iceland was backed against the ropes during certain moments of the half. Nonetheless, they found some attacking opportunities off of set pieces.
Messi finally does it
Messi finally scored his first shoal of the World Cup off a long coming from the other half of the field at the 14th minute.
Argentina was holding on for dear life. As the first set of 45 moved along, so did the Argentinian attack. Nigerian goalkeeper Francis Uzoho laid it all on the line with an spectacular save at the 33rd minute.
Halftime arrived and both games remained tight.
Argentina held on to their lead at St. Petersburg while Croatia and Iceland were still tied at Rostov-on-Don.
Second Halves
VAR confirmed a penalty against Argentina at the 49th minute. Moses was called up to the penalty spot and Javier Mascherano booked with a yellow card.
Moses converted at the hour mark on a superb penalty kick, leveling up the score, 1-1.
Meanwhile at Rostov…
Milan Badelj scored off a rebound for Croatia. Similarly to. Argentina, the goal came nearing the 60th minute of play.
Gylfi Sigurdsson later converted on a penalty kick, trying the score and keeping Iceland’s hopes alive. The score was 1-1
Croatia then finished the job as Ivan Perisic scored, securing the win for his country and ending the Icelandic dream as the score read 2-1.
One final push
VAR took the center stage once again as it reviewed a possible handball by Argentina. Minutes later VAR declined any possibility of a penalty as the play was clearly incidental.
There were only 15 minutes to go, time was runnung out for the Argentinian squad.
Nigeria sensed danger as the Argentinians looked close to score. Gonzalo Higuaín, came close to giving the winning goal to Argentina, missing a near chance in pure Higuain fashion.
Things changed however, as the game was bound to be turned around in a matter of seconds.
Marcos Rojo struck the ball furiously putting the ball in the lower corner of the net. Putting Argentina up by one, giving Nigeria no shot for a comeback.
Argentina barely made it through the group stage alongside Croatia.
Argentina will square off with France next Saturday and Croatia will do the same against Denmark next Sunday