Iceland World Cup Update: Iceland eliminated with 2-1 loss to Croatia

If any of you folks were annoyed by the updates on how Iceland has been faring in the 2018 World Cup. . .well, I’ve got some good news for you.

Needing both a victory over Croatia and an Argentina victory over Nigeria in Tuesday’s play, the odds of Iceland advancing to the knockout round were pretty long. Argentina did their part, as they defeated Nigeria by a final score of 2-1. However, Iceland could not hold up their end of the bargain, falling to Croatia by the same 2-1 score and putting an end to their World Cup aspirations.

After a scoreless first half, Croatia struck just after halftime, as Milan Badelj scored in the 53rd minute to give Croatia a 1-0 lead. Undeterred, Iceland struck back in the 76th minute, as Gylfi Sigurdsson found the back of the net to tie the game at 1.

With time winding down, Croatia pulled out another goal, with Ivan Perisic scoring in the 90th minute (with an assist from Badelj) to provide the winning margin for Croatia.

With the results of today’s last Group D matches, Croatia and Argentina will advance to the knockout round out of Group D, while Nigeria and Iceland will pack their bags and head home. Argentina will take on France on Saturday, 30 June, while Croatia will battle Denmark on Sunday, 1 July.

I guess this means we need to adopt another team for the rest of the World Cup. . .or, if our backing of Iceland is any indication, to provide the kiss of death for teams that folks might not like.