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World Cup rewind: The Messidependencia is real

By Jake Walerius

(L-R) Emil Hallfredsson of Iceland, Lionel Messi of Argentina during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia group D match between Argentina and Iceland at the Spartak Stadium on June 16, 2018 in Moscow, Russia.(Photo by VI Images via Getty Images)
(L-R) Emil Hallfredsson of Iceland, Lionel Messi of Argentina during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia group D match between Argentina and Iceland at the Spartak Stadium on June 16, 2018 in Moscow, Russia.(Photo by VI Images via Getty Images) /
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If you haven’t heard, there’s a World Cup going on. We’re here to help, with a daily recap of biggest news.

Lionel Messi missed a second-half penalty as Iceland held Argentina to a 1-1 draw in the opening match of Group D on Saturday. The Scandinavian side were well organized, defended deep and earned their point, but the match was above all another reminder of Argentina’s reliance on their star player.

To reduce Messi’s game to a single penalty would be wrong, but he admitted after the match this miss “hurt” him. The stakes were much lower, but there were shades of his penalty miss in the 2016 Copa America final, after which he briefly retired from international soccer. With difficult matches against Croatia and Nigeria coming up, Jorge Sampaoli has work to do.

The first match of the day saw France take on Australia in Kazan, where an otherwise bland game came to life in the second half thanks to some controversial VAR-ing. Antoine Griezmann was awarded a penalty after going down under a challenge from Josh Risdon, after the referee reviewed the play on the advice of the VAR.

Australia got back into the match thanks to a weird handball by Samuel Umtiti led the ref to award another penalty, before Paul Pogba won it with a heavily deflected shot that looped over Matthew Ryan and into the goal. The performance by France was hardly convincing, but they put themselves in good position to win the group.

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

Perhaps the best match of the day saw Peru face Denmark. Los Incas, appearing in their first World Cup for 36 years, dominated most of the match, but ended up losing following some inspired goalkeeping from Kasper Schmeichel, a missed penalty by Christian Cueva and Yussuf Poulsen’s 59th-minute strike.

Croatia and Nigeria contested the final game of the day, with the Croatians easing their way to a 2-0 win. With Argentina and Iceland drawing earlier in the day, the result saw Luka Modric and co. move to the top of the group. Their match against Argentina on Thursday, June 21, could determine who tops the group.

There are (only!) three games on Sunday, starting with Costa Rica vs. Serbia at 8 a.m. ET. Germany take on Mexico in the most intriguing match of the day at 11 a.m. ET. And the day ends with Brazil playing Switzerland at 2 p.m. ET. With two of the four favorites, France and Spain, failing to impress so far, there’s an opportunity for Germany and Brazil to record statement wins.

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