Iceland sweating on fitness of two players ahead of Nigeria clash

epa06812991 Lionel Messi (L) of Argentina and Gylfi Sigurdsson of Iceland in action during the FIFA World Cup 2018 group D preliminary round soccer match between Argentina and Iceland in Moscow, Russia, 16 June 2018.

by Graeme Jackson

Wednesday Jun 20, 2018. 12:30

Iceland are sweating over the fitness of two players ahead of their 2018 World Cup Group D clash against Nigeria this Friday.
my end
With the teams set to meet at the Volgograd Arena on June 22, the Nordic contenders have question marks over key players Gylfi Sigurdsson and Johann Bergs Gudmundsson.

Everton attacking midfielder Sigurdsson missed the latter part of the English Premier League season with a knee injury and did not train with his teammates on Tuesday morning, according to Icelandic media.

Instead he was involved in an individual, low-impact programme with Iceland’s physical trainer.

Burnley player Gudmundsson suffered a calf injury in the draw with Argentina and is a major doubt for Heimir Hallgrimsson’s side.

Iceland are looking to claim their first win at the World Cup finals, with their maiden match against Argentina ending 1-1 after goals from Sergio Aguero and Alfredh Finnbogason.

Nigeria are looking to bounce back after suffering a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Croatia, which featured an own goal from Oghenekaro Etebo and a penalty by Luka Modric.

The other second round Group D match will see Argentina and Croatia meet in Nizhny Novgorod on Thursday night.