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