Iceland head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson says his team prepared well for the Super Eagles but lost to a ”very strong Nigerian side” on the day.
Ahmed Musa struck two exquisite goals as one of Africa’s representatives at the 2018 Fifa World Cup produced a commanding showing in the second-half to return to life in Russia.
They had lost their opening game 2-0 to Croatia and needed to respond, which they did in a brilliant fashion on Friday.
“My players performed in line with instructions all the same, the fact that the result was not good does not mean they did not do well,” the coach said at the post-match conference at the Volgograd Arena.
“I praise them because they played against a very good Nigerian side.’’
He also said, “It is unfortunate that we lost to Nigeria in spite of the way we planned for the game.
“We did our best to prepare for them, especially the three-man defenceline. We even prepared in case they played a four-man defensive formation.”
Next for Iceland is a game against group leaders Croatia, who have already qualified for the knockout stages after beating Argentina 3-0 on Thursday.
The World Cup debutants must beat the Croats and hope Nigeria and Argentina share the spoils.
