Nigeria Puts the Chill on Iceland

It's been kinda cool to be the Little Viking That Could, but sooner or later, the numbers catch up.

When an island nation with roughly the same population of, say, Honolulu keeps coming up against a country with the population of, say, Nigeria, the greater talent pool will ultimately take its toll.

Thus, when the likes of Nigeria actually play like it has a wider selection of players from whom to choose, a 2-0 victory is par for the course.

Iceland got hot in the EuroCup and, make no mistake, performed to the max in qualifying for the World Cup. But still.

 

Dudes had every right to be proud of their accomplishments, and they're building a program that may well provide more.

They definitely know how to appeal to their challenges, as in when they introduced their World Cup kit:

 

Meanwhile, a couple of continents south, the Super Eagles had something else to prove, as in confirming to the world that they're a rising football power already.

That clearly didn't happen when Nigeria was totally outclassed by an impressive collection of Croatians.

 

Duly humbled and now on-guard because of Iceland's stunning draw against Argentina, Nigeria were looking for their first victory in Russia as well as redemption.

The game's early moments saw both sided probing for chances but being careful to not get hit by a counterattack. The first good chance was created by Iceland on a free kick, but Nigerian 'keeper Francis Uzoho was up to the task.

 

Frankly, from that point onward, the Super Eagles were super-duper.

Four minutes after intermission, Victor Moses got the ball, ran down the wing, and made a marvelous cross straight to Ahmed Musa, who sent the ball home:

After a spell of Nigerian cruise control, dudes picked up the pace once again.

In the 74th minute, Musa put a snipe off Hannes Halldorsson's crossbar, and just one minute later, dude re-appeared. This time, he left the keeper on the ground and made no mistake:

Immediately afterway, as in three minutes later, the VAR confirmed Iceland had earned a penalty and a chance to get back in the game.

Not to be. Gylfi Sigurdsson fired a blank over the crossbar.

This club can't afford to miss golden opportunities like that.

 

This isn't Diane and it is too late. Three points to the Super Eagles on a 2-0 result.

The final round in Group D now looks to be rather riveting:

Everyone's still in it.

And each with a story to tell.