With Nigeria winning against Iceland in their Group D encounter on Friday in Volgograd, Argentina can breathe easy for a while and still hope to make it to the knockout stages.
After a draw against Iceland in their opening fixture, Argentina again faltered against Croatia to drop three points as they lost 3-0 on Thursday. The runners-up of the previous edition are now in a precarious position to advance out of Group D after securing just one point from their first two games.
The ‘La Albiceleste’ desperately needed a favour from Nigeria to avoid a humiliating repeat of their 2002 campaign when they also went out at the group stage after being tipped as possible World Cup winners.
And the Super Eagles didn’t disappoint. After a quiet first half, Nigeria struck twice in the second half as Iceland defense finally started melting. Musa, who sat out in the first game against Croatia and came into the starting line-up in place of Alex Iwobi, scored the brace to become the first Nigerian to score at two World Cups.
The result may have given a slight boost to Argentina, but things have become little more complicated in the Group D as far as Round of 16 qualification is concerned.
With the last two games in Group D set to take place on Tuesday (26 June) at the same time, the standing in the group is still unclear. Only Croatia have been guaranteed a place in the next round, but it is yet to be decided whether they will advance as group toppers or not.
But if Iceland end up beating Croatia it will mean the debutantes will also end up on four points as Argentina and there will be a tie-breaker scenario.
(For complete FIFA World Cup 2018 coverage, click here to visit our special WC page.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)