FIFA World Cup: Messi misses penalty as Iceland secures historic draw

In what is arguably the biggest shock of the FIFA World Cup 2018 so far, Iceland made history at the Otkrytiye Arena after restricting Lionel Messi-led Argentina to a 1-1 draw in their opening Group D encounter.

After falling behind in the 19th minute to a Sergio Aguero goal, the Icelanders made a come-back just after four minutes when Alfred Finnbogasan registered Iceland’s first ever goal at the FIFA World Cup final in the 23rd minute. After the equaliser, Iceland remained packed at the back frustrating Argentina and denying them any opportunity to generate space.

The villain for Argentina turned out to be one of their biggest national hero Lionel Messi, when the Barcelona striker could not convert from the spot in the 64th minute. Messi’s shot was easily deflected by Iceland goalie Halldorsson, who otherwise had an equally good game denying a few Argentina strikes from getting inside the net. Messi’s nine shots of goal yielded nothing for his side.

Even though Argentina had more than one-third of the possession and at least twice as many shots on target than their opponents, they could not get the second goal and will find themselves in a state of bother

Refereeing in the match was not up to the mark either as Szymon Marciniak did not use the VAR to his benefit. A hand-ball from both the sides in their penalty area went unnoticed from the referee as the commentators even argued that he denied Argentina another penalty in the second half of the game. That said, Iceland put up a really impressive show and a wall of 11 players always greeted any Argentine player who tried to make a push forward towards the goal. They left no space for the Argentines to go for shots from distance either with their impressive, well planned and equally well executed defending tactics.

Group D, considered to be the group of death, packs of Nigeria and Croatia as other sides and Argentina will need to come out as a better side from tonight when they next meet Croatia on Thursday. Iceland will only emerge as a better, more confident side when they take field against Nigeria on Friday.