Man of the hour Lionel Messi comes inches within opening the scoring off a looping ball inside the six yard box which finds its way into the arms of the Croatian Keeper Dejan Lovren

The Europeans create two half chances in the opening ten minutes keeps the Argentine defense on their toes.

Argentina coach Jorge Sampaoli stuck with Sergio Aguero over Gonzalo Higuain to lead the line again in their Group D match against Croatia on Thursday, but dropped winger Angel Di Maria among three changes to his starting eleven.

Aguero had scored in Argentina's opening 1-1 draw with Iceland, when captain Lionel Messi missed a penalty.Gabriel Mercado, Marcos Acuna and Enzo Perez came into the Argentina side for their debuts in Russia, with Marcos Rojo and Lucas Biglia joining Di Maria on the bench at the Nizhny Novgorod stadium on the banks of the river Volga.

Croatia, who beat Nigeria 2-0 in their first game, kept a settled line-up, with veteran playmaker Luka Modric again captain and Mario Mandzukic leading the attack.

Their only change was to drop striker Andrej Kramaric for midfielder Marcelo Brozovic.

But the Croatians go into the game in ebullient mood after a comfortable 2-0 win over Nigeria, and will look to add to the frustrations of Messi who has failed to replicate the glories of his Barcelona career on the international stage.

Having led Argentina to an agonising final defeat by Germany four years ago, Messi turns 31 in a few days and may be playing his last World Cup. He would need to win it to rival fellow great Diego Maradona for the eternal love of his compatriots.

Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic has unashamedly turned to midfielder Ivan Rakitic - a team mate of Messi's at Barcelona - for ideas and tactics to stop him.

Andre Carillo finds himself with acres of space inside the French penalty area and opts for a cross at the far post, which is met by an acrobatic effort by Jefferson Farfan whose effort can only.find the side-netting. 

A good phase of play for Peru who are running out of time now and will have to do something quickly if they have to salvage this tie

Midfielder Aquino with a long range effort from thirty yards our with cannons off the post and out of play. 

That was close!

 

Les Blues have shown glimpses of their championship pedigree and will look to close off the match in the second period. 

An uphill task for Peru but as they say, a 1-0 lead is one that can always be overturned

Oliver Giroud runs onto to a through ball from midfield and takes a speculative shot on goal that bounces unexpectedly and over the keeper and into the path of Mbappe who finishes into an empty net.

Goal! 

France 1-0 Peru

Peru have made more passes than the opposition.

What a waste for Peru!

Rodriguez is penalised for pushing over Samuel Umtiti. 

A corner is awarded to France in the 13th minute.

Varane's fine header goes just wide of the far post.

Coach Didier Deschamps acknowledged on the eve of the match that France had lacked dynamism in attack in their first game against Australia, where they laboured to a 2-1 victory.

In the French starting lineup Giroud and Blaise Matuidi come in to replace Ousmane Dembele and Corentin Tolisso.For Peru, Jefferson Farfan and Renato Tapia are pushed to the bench, with Pedro Aquino coming in.

Guerrero, 34, is Peru's all-time top goalscorer but was cleared to play in the tournament only two weeks before it started, when he won a reprieve from a doping ban over a cocaine byproduct contained in a tea he drank.

Diego Costa's solitary strike helped Spain edge past Iran 1-0 in the FIFA World Cup Group B match at Kazan Arena.

After a goalless first half, Costa broke the deadlock in the 54th minute.

Veteran Iniesta is substituted after 70 minutes as he makes way for Koke.

Iran nearly produce the equaliser but Mehdi Taremi heads just over the bar after a cross from Vahid Amiri. That was a golden opportunity for Iran as the Spain defence was caught napping.

With seven minutes to go, Spain will look to tighten up their defence and deny Iran such chances.

It took Spain 54 minutes to find their first goal but a few minutes Iran equalise to make it 1-1.

But Spain's players protest and the referee decides to take the help of VAR technology.

And the goal is rightly disallowed as Iran's Ezatolahi was clearly off side and Spain survive.

Iran goalkeeper Beiranvand makes an unbelievable save off the line to deny Sergie Busquets, who attempted a long range shot from around 20 yards. He also does well to turn away the rebound as Spain make a strong start to the second half.

Isco has a good chance but he shoots over the bar from 20 yards out.

Iran nearly breaks Spain hearts as Ansarifard scores the goal only to see the referee signal it off-side.

But soon after Diego Costa breaks the deadlock as he opens the scoring in the 54th minute.

Costa was lucky on that occasion as he turned in the box after a clever pass from Iniesta, the ball rebounded off Ramin Rezaeian, who tried to clear, but only managed to deflect the ball into the net off the Spain striker's legs.

A lucky breakthrough for Spain but they totally deserve that goal as they kept attacking and didn't let the frustration affect them despite a goalless first half.

Spain dominated the possession with 73 percent possession but had only one shot on target to show out of 10 attempts.

If the match finishes goalless then Spain will be third in the group with two points from two games, behind Iran and Portugal, who will have four points each.

Spain will need something special to break the dogged Iran defence, who have at times had as many as six players defending.

Silva has another golden opportunity to score in the 42nd minute but no sooner he gets to the ball than the Iran defenders crowd him and clear the ball to safety.

Iran are doing everything to deny Spain, who despite all their possession and repeated attacks, have managed just one shot in goal in 43 minutes.

Silva gets another opportunity in the box but another Iran defender throws himself in the line of the ball as the goal bound shot goes away for a corner.

A frustrated Spain team in an animated chat with the referee after he blows for halftime.

Iran have defended out of their skin to hold Spain goalless.

Finally, some action in the Spain half as Iran attempt a long throw from near the corner line but it is cleared easily by the defenders.

Iran create another opportunity as Ramin Rezaeian delivers a dangerous ball from the right but Ramos clears it to safety as Iran earn their first corner.

Meanwhile, Iran captain Haji Safi falls to the ground with some injury. It looks like a hamstring injury and he has to go off for some treatment as he hobbles off the ground.

Spain have a freekick but David Silva straight into the hands of Iran goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand, who does well to pouch despite a slight deflection.

All the action is just taking place in the Iranian half as Spain keep pressing but so far they have not been able to break the deadlock.

A chance for Spain but Silva is unable to guide the volley into the net from close range around six metres as he makes a diving effort following a cross from Ramos. That was a good opportunity but Silva was unable to keep the ball down.

Spain goalkeeper David de Gea must be feeling lonely out there as all the other 21 players are parked in the Iran half.

Spain have still not been able to break the deadlock as the clock crosses the 30-minute mark.