Bosnia beat Iran for first WC win
Porto Alegre: Argentina’s favourite son Lionel Messi once again showed his class with a fine brace to help his side edge past a resolute Nigeria 3-2 and top Group F with the African champions also qualifying for the last-16 of the World Cup here on Wednesday.
Messi scored his third goal of the World Cup in as many matches to give the Latin American side a sublime start in the third minute.
Real Madrid winger Angel Di Maria went free down the left flank but his left-footer was saved by Nigerian goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama but the rebound was picked up soundly by Messi, who thundered the ball into the net on the half volley.
But the Argentinean celebration was shortlived as Nigerian forward Ahmed Musa levelled the scores after just a minute.
Musa received the ball from Michael Babatunde on the left and curled a wonderful effort past Sergio Romero from inside the penalty area.
Only twice before have two goals been scored in the first four minutes of a World Cup match – Austria-Czechoslovakia (third minute and fourth minute) in 1954 and Soviet Union-Hungary (second minute and fourth minite) in 1986.
The game slowed down after the first two goals but strikes and counter strikes continued from both ends as the Argentinean forwards’ kept coming hard.
Di Maria’s three good strikes off the left foot were stopped by an alert Enyeama, who was kept busy.
Argentina continued to hold possession for the better part of the first half but the Nigerian defence stood tall.
But in stoppage time of the first half Messi’s mesmerising free kick gave Argentina a 2-1 lead.
After Nigerian centre-back Kenneth Omerou took down Messi, Argentina were awarded a free kick. The Barcelona star lifted the ball over the wall and Enyeama for once was powerless to stop the curling kick, which landed perfectly in the back of the net.
But Musa was not willing to give up as the Nigerian striker gave his team the equaliser in the 47th minute.
The No. 7 found himself in space inside the Argentina box and hit a sidefooted finish past Romero.
Marcos Rojo put Argentina in the front once again in the 50th minute as the centre back scored his first international goal.
The corner was swung to the back post from the Argentina left, and after defender Ezequiel Garay nodded the ball back across the box, Rojo was there to knee the ball home.
Messi was finally withdrawn with half-an-hour left as the skipper went off the field amidst thunderous applause from the crowd with the job more or less done.
Incidentally, the two teams had met on three previous occasions, with Argentina winning all the matches.
Argentina forwards, Gonzalo Higuain, Sergio Aguero and Ezequiel Lavezzi, combined well to give the African giants many a scare but could not find the net.
There was a bit of a worry for the South American team, though, as Aguero had to be substituted in the first half with injury.
In a hard fought game, Nigeria failed to get a point but their entry into the next stage was made possible by Bosnia-Herzegovina, who closed the door on Iran with a 3-1 win in another Group F game in Salvador.
Iran had needed to beat Bosnia and hope Nigeria lost to Argentina to keep alive faint hopes of reaching the last-16, but Carlos Queiroz’s side came up well short in the Group F clash.
A powerful strike by Manchester City star Edin Dzeko gave Bosnia an early lead before Miralem Pjanic added a second just before the hour to settle a relatively dull affair at Salvador’s Arena Fonte Nova.
The game burst into life in the final minutes as Iran striker Reza Ghoochannejad netted his side’s first goal of Brazil 2014, but Bosnia replied immediately with an Avdija Vrsajevic goal.
This was Bosnia’s first World Cup appearance and they did themselves no harm in strong, if unlucky, performances.
They narrowly lost to Argentina in their opener 2-1 and then were beaten 1-0 by Nigeria, although they had a goal disallowed for a rather dubious offside call in that match.
Argentina will now face the second team from Group E on July 1, while Nigeria take on Group E winners on June 30. (Agencies)