Argentina 1-1 Iceland: World Cup highlights and recap

Argentina and Iceland drew 1-1 on Saturday, June 16, at Spartak Stadium in Moscow. Here are all the highlights from the match.

After Cristiano Ronaldo’s performance on Friday night in Sochi, it was Lionel Messi’s turn on Saturday, as Argentina faced off against Iceland in the Group D opener in Spartak Stadium, Moscow. There would be no upping of the ante, however, as the Barcelona man missed a penalty in a disappointing 1-1 draw.

La Albiceleste dominated possession as expected, but, also as expected, their attack lacked incision unless it was being orchestrated by Messi. The captain hung out wide right for most of the opening five or 10 minutes, walking around, surveying the scene, before coming inside and starting to take control.

Nonetheless, it was Iceland who had the game’s first good chance, Birkir Bjarnason missing the target from a good position after Willy Cavallero and Marcos Rojo combined to give the ball away from an Argentina goal kick. There’s not much Messi will be able to do about the defense if those mistakes persist.

Argentina settled, though, and ultimately took the lead in the 19th minute through Sergio Aguero who gathered Marcos Rojo’s speculative shot decisively before turning and drilling it high into the net, exactly the sort of finish that has generally been lacking from Aguero for his national team, and a huge source of encouragement for Jorge Sampaoli.

The goal was followed shortly after by one of those darting Messi runs through the middle of the pitch, bouncing the ball of his teammates as he goes, and, with a stadium dominated by Argentina fans, it seemed Sampaoli’s side might begin to start adding some real incision to go along with all the possession. Apparently not.

Iceland had equalized within five minutes, with Caballero and the defense once more playing a key role. The Scandinavian side got the ball wide, before playing in a couple of crosses Argentina failed to deal with. The end result was a Gylfi Sigurddson shot Caballero could only parry straight to Alfred Finnbogasan, who tapped in.

Argentina improved after the break, particularly after Sampaoli brought on Ever Banega to replace Lucas Biglia. With Banega more of a threat going forward, Messi was able to drop deep, where he played the ball from which Maximiliano Meza won a penalty in the 63rd minute. With the chance to give his side the lead, however, Messi fluffed his lines.

The miss was met with another surge of Argentinian pressure, but they struggled to break down their opponents, who were increasingly happy to play for the draw. Messi curled a shot just wide in the 81st minute, before having another, similar effort blocked in the box three minutes later, but there would be no winner, for Messi or anyone else.

Next: The best player on every team at the World Cup

Highlights

Argentina’s next match comes against Croatia on Thursday, while Iceland play Nigeria on Friday.