FIFA World Cup 2018: Iceland win hearts in Argentina draw

Iceland held Argentina for a 1-1 draw on Saturday at the Spartak Stadium in Moscow.

FIFA World Cup 2018, FIFA World Cup 2018 news, FIFA World Cup 2018 updates, Iceland vs Argentina, Argentina Iceland, sports news, football, Indian Express

Lionel Messi missed the penalty in second half. (Source: Reuters)

Iceland held Argentina for a 1-1 draw on Saturday at the Spartak Stadium in Moscow. Sergio Aguero gave Argentina the lead but only for few seconds as Finbogason scored the equalizer for his side. Later, Lionel Messi had the chance to put his team in front as Argentina were awarded the penalty but the skipper missed the chance. This was the third time when Messi missed a penalty in the national colours. Argentina will now play Croatia on their next encounter on Thursday while Iceland take on Nigeria on Friday.

“I hope it is going to prove important to us to reach our goal to qualify,” Halldorsson said of the penalty save.I did my homework, I looked at a lot of penalties by Messi, and I also looked at how I had been behaving in previous penalties, so I tried to get into their mindset, how they would be thinking about me. I think the Argentinians felt a bit frustrated that they weren’t getting through and it was important we equalised so quickly. I guess our game plan worked almost perfectly.”

Don’t care how many passes Iceland did or did not complete!

They showed 100% unity, industry, belief, spirit, fearlessness, togetherness… defended like their lives depended on it. Measure that!

Smallest #WorldCup nation EVER draw with Argentina…

…Magic! 💙💙💙#ARGISL pic.twitter.com/zBM7lhKv2E

— colin murray (@ColinMurray) 16 June 2018

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The IMDB page of #ISL goalkeeper Hannes Þór Halldórsson who is a filmmaker by trade and just saved Messi’s penalty at the #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/snNU1I9Qkx

— Cristian Nyari (@Cnyari) 16 June 2018

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Messi 😱😱😱😱 #Worldcup pic.twitter.com/DOvuBeb8c6

— Ian Wright (@IanWright0) 16 June 2018

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I want Argentina to show well this World Cup but it’s honestly so damn hard to root against Iceland. They have so much heart, They’ve won me over.

— Alex Morgan (@alexmorgan13) 16 June 2018

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Argentina coach Jorge Sampaoli admitted that they need to find more variety going forward. “We need to find more variety of options going forward. It’s a very competitive group.The circumstances around the missed penalty and that led to Leo’s mistake, that’s just another statistic, it’s part of the past… football is like that. We need to be strong as a group, believe in ourselves and know we have all the tools to beat anybody.”

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