Argentina vs Croatia : Jorge Sampaoli begged for forgiveness from Argentina’s fans on Thursday after a 3-0 drubbing by Croatia left Lionel Messi’s World Cup dreams hanging by a thread.

Argentina vs Croatia : The party at the Buenos Aires fanzone fell flat as a crowd expecting a Messi-inspired Argentina World Cup revival could only watch in horror at as the nadir of Nizhny Novgorod unfolded.

Neymar’s fitness will be under the microscope on Friday as Brazil try to kickstart their World Cup campaign, anxious to avoid the kind of pitfall that has left Argentina and Lionel Messi facing an early exit.

Nigeria vs Iceland : The Vikings of Iceland that held Argentina to a draw in the first game of Group D in the FIFA World Cup in Russia, will have it tougher with Nigeria’s Super Eagles in the crunch match starting at 4pm today.

The Super Eagles have arrived in the southern Russia town of Volgograd and are in high spirits to face Iceland in their crucial group D FIFA World Cup tie this afternoon.

Super Eagles captain John Obi Mikel said the team is focused on getting a good result when they face Iceland this afternoon.

Super Eagles first-choice keeper, Francis Uzoho said he won’t allow the burden of expectations to weigh him down as the face a crucial test in today’s group D game against Iceland.

Former Super Eagles’ chief coach Adegboye Onigbinde on Thursday at St Petersburg in Russia urged for more support for the senior national football team.

Argentina’s media stuck the boot into Lionel Messi and his teammates on Thursday, branding the team’s World Cup defeat to Croatia a “catastrophe” and a “humiliation”.

Suleiman Habuba is a former Director of Communications of the Confederation of African Football and now a football and business consultant. He is in Russia for the on-going FIFA World Cup. He is versed in football matters as he shares his views on the organisation of the on-going FIFA World Cup tournament in Russia. Excerpts

Kylian Mbappe said that playing at a World Cup was “a dream come true” after the teenager scored the winner in a 1-0 victory over Peru to send France into the last 16 on Thursday.

Argentina slipped to the brink of an embarrassing World Cup group-stage exit on Thursday after Croatia beat the South Americans 3-0 to progress to the last 16.

Paul Pogba paid tribute to fellow midfielder N’Golo Kante after France sealed their place in the World Cup last 16 on Thursday, saying: “He has 15 lungs.”

A howler from Argentina’s Willy Caballero gifted Croatia a 1-0 second-half lead in their World Cup clash on Thursday — the latest in a string of goalkeeping errors in big matches.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia entered full swing on Thursday as fans’ attendance at stadia, recorded one million with Denmark vs Australia game in Samara.