The hastag in Nigeria had something to do with die-for-Nigeria. But the Super Eagles did not die for Nigeria and so they live for the next plane ticket back home in Lagos.

The 11 players were almost men against Messi's Argentina. Not even a gift from Javier Mascherano in a form of a converted penalty could fire the Super Eagles into a sustained fight to finish with a draw needed to qualify.

Many moments, mainly Musa-engineered magic, fell to the Super Eagles to finish the game but a faulty last pass, flawed technique or a stronger last man denied Nigeria a goal in open play. 

But when the tape is replayed it will freeze at the 11 minute moment when Iheanacho frooze on the ball at 19 yards with two defenders to beat.

He did nothing but fall to the ground under minimum pressure passing on the responsibility of doing something to the referee with his weak appeals for foul.

But while Iheanacho's mind went blank, Messi's mind sparked. Minutes later, Rojo deep in his half split the Super Eagles with the kind of pass Ahmed Musa was dying to have all throughout the game.

The piercing Marcus Rojo pass found Messi's mercuric movement, leaving him with a defender and a petrified goalkeeper to beat.

Not a hard chore to score for a player who has wiped the floor with four players before. Good first touch, blistering shot across the face of goal and into the far post.

It was a deserved lead against another dull Nigeria first-half display. And Argentina repeated this attacking routine of splitting long range passes. Same pass different players with Di Maria this time on hand to recieve the pass and dart towards the goal until Balogun clipped him to concede a freekick which was good as a penalty for Messi.

His carefully weighted shot into the top corner of the right post fractionally turned away not by the keeper but the side post.

In what could have been his last game in Russia, Lionel Messi moved better, appeared in the mood for magic and even jumped better, beating a Nigerian to a header.

And his 27minute pass caused injury to the goalkeeper as it set Higuain on a collision course with the man between the sticks.

While Messi's mood and movement mimicked his mesmerizing Barcelona displays, Moses and Musa had a muffled first-half performance as the Nigerians appeared to leave their best for last.

But Victor Moses was less pardonable in the first 45 minutes. Sluggish and unsure and happy to scream for weak appeals for fouls.

True to predictions, the Super Eagles were revived in the second half after Mascherano bundled Balogun in the box during a corner kick to leave the referee pointing to the spot.

Punished by a penalty in their game against Croatia, Nigeria had the chance to punish the South American superpower.

And Victor Moses tapped the ball in like a birdie. His cool, collected composure behind the ball perhaps showed why he loves to shout for penalties.

But the goal brought back his confidence and Nigeria's and Ahmed Musa finally got his chance to sprint free and wild as he repeated those dangerous darting runs that sunk Iceland.

He finished his 59 minute run into the box, beat error-prone Mascherano close on the byeline. But his cut into the box from the near post which was meant to find a striker, found a defender. Arrggghhh.

Mikel would find Ahmed Musa again in the 70minute. Musa this time would not run down the left lane. He chose to cut inside early after one dribble and teed up Ndidi for a long rang shot. Adrenaline rushed through his blood and the powerful shot shaved over the post.

By now Iheanacho had been yanked off for Igahlo and when Musa again on the left chose to cross than to cause panic with his darts, his swing was headed out by Marcus Rojo hit his arm and fell for the Chinese-based striker whose task under no pressure was to find the target.

Igahlo bottled it when he should have buried it and run wild screaming penalty after the ball off Rojo's head hit his arm.

The referee would not have it after consulting VAR and Nigeria was once again so close yet so far, almost about to make the most but never making it.

At this point Argentina had no care for defending. Inviting Nigeria to attack-me-if-you-can. Throwing bodies infront of Nigeria but the Super Eagles would break on the counter only to break down.

A delightfully cut pass into the box met onrushing Gonzalo Higuain in the 81minute but his connecting shot was worlds apart from the goal from the world-class striker as Nigeria survived another scary moment.

And when Higuain could not score, it was a defender who showed the striker how to bury it after a cross into the box feel to Marcus Rojo inside the box.

He made no mistake, splitting the defence with a net-rattling shot to end Nigeria's game management of a draw that would have been enough to qualify them to the one-eight stage.

Nigeria put up virtually no fight afterwards apart from a few fights with Argentine players. 

In contrast, a revived Messi slide down hard towards the corner flag, charging into a defender to block a shot in the Nigerian area. He showed a very rare defending spirit unseen in the Barcelona star who leaves tackles for defenders.

Rojo's goal had just bailed him from twitter trolls and he marked this by jumping onto Rojo's back as the defender celebrated.

Messi was stuck behind Marcus's back and he was carried around the pitch when the world expected it to be the other way round.

A frustrated Messi became a grateful Messi as the striker put in a defensive shift for the team after the defender had put in an attacking shift for the country.

Anything to keep the score 2-1.