ICELAND looked a team that had been on this stage before; not even Argentina or Lionel Messi intimidated them. Their coach Heimir Hallgrimsson is a dentist and a seemingly meticulous one. He ensured there were no cavities in his team for their more storied opponents to exploit.

On their World Cup debut, Iceland now have a chance to do what they did at their maiden tournament — two years ago at the European Championship — go beyond the group stage. Then, they went even further; to the quarter-finals.

Their 1-1 draw in their Group ‘D’ opener against Argentina at the Spartak Stadium on Saturday meant they can look towards emulating their feat in France. The key moment for Iceland was goalkeeper Hannes Halldorsson denying Messi from the spot in the second half.

“It’s a big draw for us,” Halldorsson said afterwards. “We felt at last Euros how important it is to get on the board right away if we are going to reach our goal to qualify.”

At the Euros, Iceland denied Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal — the eventual winners — a victory. This time, they didn’t let Messi score.

There is a feeling at the World Cup that Messi is under immense pressure to deliver in Russia. His longstanding rival Ronaldo has already won silverware with his national team. Messi has come close but is yet to lift one. And Argentina’s talisman was distraught following the penalty miss.

“It would’ve changed the script,” he told reporters. “It was the advantage. Obviously it hurts me to have missed the penalty. We have the bitterness of not being able to take the three points we deserved.”

Whether Argentina deserved three points remains open to question. Argentina’s was an insipid display, devoid of creativity and penetration. Iceland did what they had to do. Put men behind the ball and collectively deny Messi the spaces in which he makes the difference, where he can play that telling pass or score that spectacular goal.

Yet, Argentina didn’t need Messi to open the scoring. Sergio Aguero produced a brilliant piece of skill inside the box to control and shoot on the turn with no backlift in the 19th minute.

Credit to Iceland that they didn’t wilt as they levelled matters immediately afterwards. Argentina’s defence couldn’t cope with two balls pinged into the box and although the first was half-cleared, the second found Gylfi Sigurdsson whose shot was only palmed away by Willy Caballero into the path of Alfred Finnbogason who made no mistake in finding the back of the net.

Despite his best efforts, Messi couldn’t do what Aguero and Finnbogason did. When his chance came from the penalty spot, he struck a weak penalty, at a comfortable height for Halldorsson to save.

On the eve of the match, coach Jorge Sampaoli said Argentina was Messi’s team. In a group which also has Croatia and Nigeria one wonders what Argentina’s fate with be if Messi fails to inspire.

Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2018