{"id":142397,"date":"2018-06-17T13:31:05","date_gmt":"2018-06-17T13:31:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/iceland-smite-messi-hopes-in-pictures\/"},"modified":"2018-06-17T13:31:05","modified_gmt":"2018-06-17T13:31:05","slug":"iceland-smite-messi-hopes-in-pictures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/iceland-smite-messi-hopes-in-pictures\/","title":{"rendered":"Iceland smite Messi hopes &#8212; in pictures"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"caps\">Billed as minnows facing annihilation against the messiah, Iceland - the smallest nation ever to play in a World Cup - defied all expectations to snuff out Argentina and its biggest star.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#039;s the story of that encounter in pictures.<\/p>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  Reuters                                                    <\/figure>\n<p>Ahead of kick off, Iceland fans gave the famous Icelandic synchronised &quot;thunder clap&quot;.<\/p>\n<p>The country only has a population of 335,000 - many of them appeared to be in Moscow.<\/p>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  AFP\/Getty                                                    <\/figure>\n<p>Argentine fans invoked their own deity - Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi. Would he be able to match his great rival Ronaldo&#039;s feats from the day before?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ronaldo&#039;s superhuman match in pictures<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Who would prevail?<\/p>\n<p>                           Skip Twitter post  by @rvkgrapevine                              <\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>A moment to remember. #ARGISL #SmiteTheWorld #ISL #VikingClap pic.twitter.com\/2k5KdjHGBQ<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Reykjav\u00edk Grapevine (@rvkgrapevine) June 16, 2018<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>              Report                          <\/p>\n<p>End of Twitter post  by @rvkgrapevine<\/p>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  EPA                                                    <\/figure>\n<p>Argentina struck first through Sergio Aguero and a massacre seemed on the cards.<\/p>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  Reuters                                                    <\/figure>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  Reuters                                                    <\/figure>\n<p>But Iceland hit back thanks to Alfred Finnbogason, sparking wild celebrations.<\/p>\n<p>All eyes were now on Messi - could he breach the Icelandic defensive wall?<\/p>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  Reuters                                                    <\/figure>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  Reuters                                                    <\/figure>\n<p>But where Ronaldo had scored, Messi missed. His easiest chance was a penalty, but he struck it weakly and at a convenient height for goalkeeper Hannes Halldorsson.<\/p>\n<p>He also missed a late free kick, unlike the Portuguese, and where Ronaldo&#039;s speculative shot had squirmed under the Spanish goalkeeper, Messi&#039;s efforts flew wide of the Icelandic goal.<\/p>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  Reuters                                                    <\/figure>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  Reuters                                                    <\/figure>\n<p>It was not his finest day.<\/p>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  Reuters                                                    <\/figure>\n<p>For the national team at least, Messi remains in the shadow of the watching Argentine football hero Diego Maradona, who could not hide his disappointment.<\/p>\n<p>                           Skip Twitter post  by @SquawkaNews                              <\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Diego Maradona: Rule breaker. \ud83d\udead pic.twitter.com\/n0Bz8cmzuZ<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Squawka News (@SquawkaNews) June 16, 2018<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>              Report                          <\/p>\n<p>End of Twitter post  by @SquawkaNews<\/p>\n<p>This time, as many on social media pointed out, Maradona&#039;s infamous &quot;hand of God&quot; was holding a cigar in defiance of Fifa&#039;s no smoking rules. <\/p>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  EPA                                                    <\/figure>\n<p>Instead, the day belonged to the &quot;hand of cod&quot; - as Icelandic goalkeeper Halldorsson was dubbed by one commentator.<\/p>\n<p>His contribution was immortalised by Icelandic online magazine Reykjavik Grapevine.<\/p>\n<p>                           Skip Twitter post 2 by @rvkgrapevine                              <\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Hannes &quot;Wild Claws&quot; Halld\u00f3rsso: the half-man-half-giant legend. What a goalkeeper. As indomitable at the bleak, snowy heights of Vatnaj\u00f6kull. As rugged as the #ISL Highlands. As tough as the cliffs of #D\u00fdrholaey.#Messi 0-2 @hanneshalldors #ARG 1-1 #ISL#ARGISL #SmiteTheWorld<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Reykjav\u00edk Grapevine (@rvkgrapevine) June 16, 2018<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>              Report                          <\/p>\n<p>End of Twitter post 2 by @rvkgrapevine<\/p>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  AFP\/Getty                                                    <\/figure>\n<p>At the final whistle, there was jubilation in a rainy Reykjavik.<\/p>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  Reuters                                                    <\/figure>\n<p>Watching Argentines meanwhile were underwhelmed. Their messiah&#039;s coming had, once again, been postponed.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Unforgettable,&quot; tweeted the Icelandic goalkeeper after the match.<\/p>\n<p>                           Skip Twitter post  by @hanneshalldors                              <\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Unforgettable \ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf8#WorldCup18 #fyririsland pic.twitter.com\/4jtXiVur5q<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Hannes Halld\u00f3rsson (@hanneshalldors) June 17, 2018<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>              Report                          <\/p>\n<p>End of Twitter post  by @hanneshalldors<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Billed as minnows facing annihilation against the messiah, Iceland - the smallest nation ever to play in a World Cup - defied all expectations to snuff out Argentina and its<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142397\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}