Nigeria were ‘two’ good for Iceland in their vital Group D encounter on Friday evening.
There was little to choose between the two sides in the first 45, with Nigeria shading the possession and making almost double the number of passes as they strove to melt Icelandic hearts.
However, Nigeria were nowhere near direct enough and it didn’t help their cause simply not to concede; they had to score to stay in the competition.
They showed they had the capability but appeared to lack the confidence needed to take the fight to their opponents.
This they did when they came back onto the field for the second stanza.
It took just three minutes from the restart for midfielder Victor Moses to make a beautiful break down the right, his pinpoint cross superbly brought down by striker Ahmed Musa, who thrashed it home for a 1-0 lead.
Musa, currently on loan from Leicester to CSK Moscow, would have delighted the host country supporters as well as inspiring his own nation.
Both sides kept pushing forward, with the Chelsea paring of John Obi Mikel and Victor Moses prominent in the Nigerian engine room.
The Ahmed Musa show resumed in the 74th minute as he ran round Kari Arnason and calmly picked his spot between the keeper and two defenders to make it 2-0.
VAR came into the picture again in the final 10 minutes when a Nigerian goal kick was overturned and a penalty was awarded to Iceland.
But iceman Gylfi Sigurosson failed to keep his cool and spurned the opportunity, ballooning the ball over the cross bar.
Nigeria calmly held on for a famous comeback win after losing their opener to Croatia, who top the group with six points.
Nigeria have three points while Argentina and Iceland have one each, and the trio will fight it out for the remaining last 16 place.
