Iceland will shoot down Super Eagles insists boss

Bullish Iceland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson insists he expects nothing less than victory against Nigeria today.

Iceland held Argentina to a 1-1 draw in their opening game and could take a giant leap to the knockout stages with victory against the Super Eagles in Group D.

Iceland are the smallest nation ever to play in the World Cup and after an impressive point against Argentina – where Hannes Halldorsson saved a Lionel Messi penalty – Hallgrimsson is confident.

He said: “We expect to win. We have rotated the team a lot during qualification and we’re not afraid, we’ll not change our plans of what we have decided to do before today’s game.

“Everyone is on board, no-one is trying to be bigger than the next guy and that is why this side is getting results above their individual quality.”

While Hallgrimsson is optimistic, Nigeria boss Gernot Rohr believes the Super Eagles remain underdogs for the game.

They lost 2-0 to Denmark in their opening game and another defeat is likely to spell the end of their World Cup. Nigeria wrap up their Group D campaign against Argentina on Tuesday.

Former Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel and Blues winger Victor Moses are the two highest profile members of the squad and Rohr said: “Why we don’t have star players? It’s because we are the youngest team of the World Cup.

“We have Obi Mikel, who is a very good player, you can tell that he is a star, we have Victor Moses who is well known everywhere but we have so many young players, they will be stars, I hope so, tomorrow.

“What we have is a team for 2022, because when you are so young, with the goalkeeper and all the other people, they will be better and better.”