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SCORE: Argentina (Aguero 19') 1-1 Iceland (Finnbogason 23')
Lionel Messi has been sitting in his hotel room watching all the big stars light up the World Cup; chief among whom has been his arch nemesis, Cristiano Ronaldo, who came up with a hattrick against Spain the previous night, to send the world into a frenzy. Messi finally got his chance as Argentina faced Iceland who had managed to qualify for the World Cup Finals for the first time in their history, in their opening fixture of the 2018 FIFA World Cup at the Otkrytiye Arena.
The newcomers caught the world's imagination in the last international competition they were so memorably a part of, the 2016 Euros. The Vikings have been placed in Group D, alongside dark horses Croatia, a very talented Nigerian side, and Iceland's opponents on the night - Argentina, in what is the closest to a "Group of death" in this edition of the World Cup.
The wealth of attacking talent at the disposal of the Argentina coach, Jorge Sampaoli, meant that there was no place for Paolo Dybala in the starting line-up. Irrespectively, Argentina ought to be sitting pretty on top of the group, but football is a funny sport. Here are the Talking Points:
#5 Frantic start to the game
The game got off to a blistering start, with both teams hell-bent on getting the early advantage. Within the opening 15 minutes, we got to see more chances than in probably the entirety of the game which preceded it: France vs Australia.
Argentina were almost caught off guard, straight from the off, with Iceland registering their first shot on goal with just seconds on the clock. That should've been a sign of their intent. They weren't just there to make up the numbers. Argentina looked to hit straight back and afforded the minnows a chance on the break which they really ought to have put away.
It was in the first quarter of the game when, arguably, the greatest of his generation, Lionel Messi was at his menacing best. The Argentine kept getting on the ball and got a bunch of shots away at the opposition goal; the man with the gloves dealt with all of them, comfortably, while the others whisked just wide.
#4 Sergio Aguero came up with his first ever and Argentina's first in this edition
The Argentine goal-scorer has long been regarded as one of the greatest strikers in the modern game. He achieved cult status with his current club side Manchester City when he dramatically came up with a stoppage-time winner to hand them the first Premier League title in their history.
He has, however, failed to attain the same status with his national side. A plethora of utterly talented strikers in Argentina's ranks meant that he didn't get the same level of adulation that some of the other strikers from other relatively depleted attacking units do.
And of course, when you play alongside Lionel Messi you're most definitely not going to be the centre of all the attention.
On the night though, he was by far their most effective player as he came up with a stunning effort with his weaker left foot, on the half-turn, to rifle the ball into the roof of the net. It was his first goal in the competition in his illustrious career. He would've been delighted to get the monkey off his back but the feeling wouldn't have lasted for long as Argentine problems started to mount up soon after.
#3 The Vikings roar back
Supported by a bunch of religiously-loyal supporters, clapping in unison from the stands accompanied by the Viking roar, Iceland looked up for it from the first whistle; thanks to the tremendous atmosphere created by the travelling Icelandic support inside the Otkrytiye Arena.
This isn't the first time they've made a mark on the world stage; their trademark celebration going viral following their team's heroics at the Euros two years ago. Neither is it the first time that their team has sent shock-waves through the world of football. The giant-killing instincts of the Icelanders were well documented following England's ouster from France a couple of years ago, after managing to hold the eventual Champions, Portugal, in the group stages.
If that was impressive, the game against Argentina was even better. After going a goal down, in the manner that they did, it would've been totally normal for a team of their standing to wilt under the pressure of playing against last edition's finalists, on the biggest stage in the game. But that's not the Viking spirit. It simply isn't.
Instead, they roared back, almost straight away (a gap of just 4 minutes between the goals), to level the scoring, albeit in the patchy manner that they did, with some unwarranted assistance in the form of shoddy defending by the Argentine defence and its inability to clear its lines. Irrespectively, Iceland had the grit, and the determination, to hit back and that's exactly what they did. It was the sucker-punch that Argentina never really recovered from.
#2 An Icelandic study in the art of thwarting a talented attack
The Iceland manager, Heimir Hallgrímsson, has managed to drill into his side the ethos of not knowing how to get beat. And that is built of the solid foundation of relentless defensive doggedness. While Argentina were concerned with keeping all of the ball, the minnows were only concerned with their shape.
As the finalists from Brazil, four years ago, kept piling on the pressure, the Icelandic rear-guard stood firm. The heavily-reinforced defence managed to keep most of the threat away from their penalty area, with Messi forced to go for goal from outside the box. Although Argentina went on to register a whole array of shots on goal, the debutants were quick to deny the opposition any space or time in and around the goal.
The debutants were not at all interested in playing the offside trap, as they probably figured that the pace in the opposition ranks greatly overpowers that of their back-line. With a less than 100% fit captain in central defensive midfield, the newcomers were far more comfortable with all men behind the ball, with all of the Argentina side in front of them.
They never gave them the space to run in behind, loaded the box with numbers in defence, and were quick to close down any threat that arose from Messi getting onto the ball. In fact, even Angel di Maria and Kun Aguero were rendered useless for the fair majority of the game.
Despite Argentina camping near the opposition penalty area, the superiority in numbers for Iceland meant that Argentina never really had a decent chance or a clear opening. Their levels never dropped and a lot of credit needs to go into the work put in by the team in the training sessions.
#1 Ronaldo 3-0 Messi
How much ever we try to move away from the Messi vs Ronaldo debate, the sheer talent that the two men possess means that football can never ignore two of the greatest specimens to have graced the sport.
After Cristiano Ronaldo's heroics against the mighty Spain, the world's attention turned to the little magician to see what he could conjure up, to further add fuel to the raging debate.
The way he started the game, with real purpose, got everyone thinking that the Messi show was imminent. He went all-out to try and get the opener and clearly wanted to force the issue on his own. After Iceland survived a number of early scares, Messi was further shackled down by the men in white; three men surrounded him every time he got on the ball.
Then came the decision to award Argentina a penalty in the 64th minute, as Messi has hacked to the ground by Magnusson. Up stepped the most prolific goal-scorer in the Argentinian lineup, and the parallels started writing themselves up. A hat-trick for Messi after the hat-trick from Ronaldo? Will Messi see Ronaldo's goals and raise him a couple more?
What followed has happened only twice before, with him in an Argentina shirt, in a major international competition. Messi decided to go to the keeper's right and the keeper, too, went the right way. Messi's shot not only lacked the precision to find the left-bottom corner, but it was also at the perfect height for the keeper to make, what was in all honesty, a routine save.
The script was thrown out of the window. Lionel Messi had missed a penalty. And to be honest, never got his mind off that incident. Did the pressure get to even Lionel Messi?
Without a doubt, he's going to make us all pay for our words in this very competition, but for the moment, in the 2018 World Cup, it's Cristiano Ronaldo 3, Lionel Messi 0.
Also read: World Cup 2018: Doesn't matter what the question is, Cristiano Ronaldo is the answer
