Ahmad Musa scored a brace as Nigeria came alive in the second half in their 2018 FIFA World Cup match against Iceland played at the Volgograd Arena in Volgograd.
Photo courtesy of www.fifa.com
After their defeat against Croatia on their opener Nigeria needed to get the points on board in order to qualify for the next round. Having held the much favoured Argentina to a draw on their first ever World Cup finals match, Iceland took the field with high confidence.
Despite that there were not many chances created by both sides in the first 45 minutes with Gylfi Sigurdsson free-kick for Iceland that was saved by goalkeeper, Francis Ozuho the closest moment to come to a goal.
However the match came alive in the second. Musa in his attempt to control a pass from Victor Moses lifted the ball up and allowed it to come down before hitting a half-volley past Iceland goalkeeper, Hannes Halldorssón four minutes after the restart.
Iceland tried to make a comeback but Musa struck again fifteen minutes from time when his pace brought him past defender, Kári Árnason and after taking it past Halldorssón picked his spot to slot home his second goal of the match.
The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) came into play when Björn Sigurdarson was deemed to have brought been brought down by defender, Kenneth Omeruo in the penalty area. However Sigurdsson could not keep his spot-kick down despite Ozuho going the wrong way.
At the final whistle, Nigeria registered their first win and this would set up nicely for the final group matches when they face Argentina while Iceland take on the already qualified Croatia.
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