Iceland coach Heimir Hallgrimsson remains confident of his side’s ability to qualify in to the World Cup knockout stage despite Friday’s 2-0 defeat to Nigeria.
Ahmed Musa scored a brace against the debutants in the second half to take Nigeria to second in the Group D standings, behind already qualified Croatia
Commenting on the chances of his team which now needs a win at all cost, Hallgrimsson said they would be banking on their previous impressive record against the Croats.
“We didn’t think we would go through this World Cup without a loss and losses are always difficult to swallow. But we only need to beat Croatia, which is possibly easier to say than do.
“We’ve played Croatia four times in four years and we’ve often said we’re like a married couple trying to get divorced but we always meet up again.
“They’ve had two really, really good performances in the World Cup. The last one was a shining example of how good Croatia is but that also gives us confidence because we were ahead of them in our [qualifying] group and have already beaten them once in Iceland.”
Iceland face Croatia in their final group game at Rostov Arena on Tuesday.
