Argentina edges Nigeria, sneaks into last-16
ST. PETERSBURG (Reuters) – A late goal by Marcos Rojo gave Argentina a dramatic 2-1 victory over Nigeria in Group D on Tuesday night and sent the twice champion through to the knockout stages of the World Cup.
Lionel Messi scored his first goal of the tournament in the 14th minute with an expertly taken shot. However, Nigeria was level six minutes after the restart, when Javier Mascherano fouled Leon Balogun in the area and Victor Moses stepped up to slot the resulting penalty past Franco Armani.
With the game ebbing away from Argentina, Gabriel Mercado crossed from the right in the 86th minute and Rojo turned the ball into the goal with a first time strike to spark wild celebrations from the Argentines.
Iceland’s first World Cup adventure came to a valiant end as it was beaten 2-1 by Group D winner Croatia due to a late strike from Ivan Perisic.
Iceland missed a flurry of early chances, but went behind in the second half to a lethal strike from Croatia midfielder Milan Badelj, although Gylfi Sigurdsson leveled from the penalty spot in the 76th minute to set up an enthralling finish.
Argentina faces France in the last-16 after finishing second in the group, while Croatia takes on Group C runner-up Denmark. Nigeria and Iceland are out after finishing third and fourth, respectively.
Meanwhile, the goals finally dried up at this thrilling World Cup on Tuesday when a flat France and dull Denmark played out a mutually beneficial 0-0 draw at the Luzhniki Stadium which allowed the French to finish top of Group C and the Danes to qualify in second spot.
Thirty-six games in Russia had failed to result in a goalless stalemate, but neither France nor Denmark ever looked like scoring in a tedious affair.
France was already assured qualification, but wanted to go through in top spot to avoid a last-16 clash with in-form Croatia.
Denmark could have only been denied qualification had tit lost to France and had Australia beat-en Peru in the match being simultaneously played in Sochi.
But with the Peruvians leading 2-0 before the hour in that game, the Moscow clash settled down to little more than a canter.
While not in the same category as the infamous 1982 “Nichtangriffspakt von Gijon” – the non-aggression pact of Gijon – when West Germany and Austria both settled for a 1-0 German win which put them both through, neither side at the Luzhniki looked to be going all out for victory.
“It was our objective to ensure we were first out of the group... The objective was achieved,” French coach Didier Deschamps said.
“It was very difficult. Teams are very well prepared, and it’s not easy against such a packed defense.”
Nor too was Denmark coach Age Hareide about to apologize for anything.
“We just needed one point, right?” he asked rhetorically.
“We were up against one of the best counterattacking teams in the world. We would have been stupid if we opened up. We played to get the result and we did it.”
The writing had been was on the wall early in the capital, with the play dominated by industry rather than any kind of inspiration.
The Danes built a pattern of firing balls deep before quickly tracking back, while the French kept possession well but struggled throughout with the final ball.
Antoine Griezmann, surprisingly not among the six players rested by Didier Deschamps, looked listless as he sought to probe the Danish defense for a way through.
At times it seemed as though he was on a different wavelength to his teammates, who failed to spot his runs or find the spaces Griezmann played into.
It took more than half an hour before there was any real chance, and then Ousmane Dembele pushed his right foot shot wide of the goal – and of Kasper Schmeichel’s overly elaborate dive.
Jeers and whistles swirled around the frustrated crowd as both sides failed time after time to create any real opportunities, the Danes continuing to defend deep and the French rarely breaking out of a trot.
Deschamps substituted Griezmann in the 68th minute for Nabil Fekir, but it was a case of more of the same.
“I made a lot of changes. That hurts the cohesion a bit but it’s good that the whole squad feels involved,” Deschamps said.
Few teams will fear either side on the back of this performance, but surely there will be better days ahead for both nations when the reality of sudden-death forces their hands.