With 64 minutes gone Argentina seemed to have found the decisive break on a tight, bruising afternoon that saw their revered attack struggle to find its gears against an excellent Iceland team.

The score was 1-1, as it would finish. Iceland were holding steady. With a long pass from the left Sergio Agüero was suddenly in space in the area, sent tumbling by a collision with Hördur Björgvin Magnússon. The penalty was given. Half of the stadium leapt up, phones raised as Lionel Messi stepped up to take it, breath drawn to yowl and cheer as the ball hit the net.

World Cup 2018: Argentina v Iceland – live! Read more

Or perhaps not. Messi’s kick was terrible, too close to Hannes Thór Halldórsson, who guessed the right way and palmed the ball far enough from goal.

In the stands heads were cradled, jaws dropped. But what an astonishingly brilliant moment for Halldórsson, who six years ago directed Iceland’s entry to the Eurovision song contest, but who has now saved a penalty from Messi in front of a few hundred million people, not to mention his future grandkids, great-grandkids and anyone else who meets him for the next 60 years with an active YouTube feed.

Argentina were denied again with 13 minutes to go, as Cristian Pavón was tripped in the area by Birkir Már Sævarsson. He might easily have had another penalty. Confusingly no VAR review was called for. By the time Iceland had taken their goal-kick the moment had passed.

Fifa really has opened the box on this one, with the debate on exactly how these complex attempts to find certainty in a game of endless subjective opinion should be applied. Strap in. The VAR blah starts here.

So Iceland held on in this Group D opener to take a deserved point from their first World Cup game. This is a rise that has been pegged out in moments. Here was another one, a new plateau for the smallest nation ever to get to the World Cup – albeit against an Argentina team that pressed hard, had most of the possession and might easily have won the game but also presented their own weaknesses to the world.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Alfred Finnbogason equalises from the rebound after Willy Caballero had fumbled a shot. Photograph: Rebecca Blackwell/AP

This was goalkeeper Willy Caballero’s first competitive international. It might be his last if Franco Armani has been looking smart in training. There was a fumble for Iceland’s goal, one horrible attempt at jazzed-up possession play from the back and also a first-half shot that was palmed away with all the agility of a dead tree falling over in a high wind.

Throughout all this there was a lovely spectacle at a packed-out stadium. Before kick-off on a dazzlingly bright Moscow day the Spartak Arena was gripped with a wonderful rolling surge of noise. The sight of Messi’s impassive ginger-bearded face on the big screen as the teams walked out drew the first ear-splitting whistle from the main Albiceleste end.

The Iceland coach, Heimir Hallgrímsson, had been phlegmatic as ever on facing Argentina’s universe-boss-level playmaker. “I don’t have a magic formula,” Hallgrímsson said with a shrug on the eve of this game.

In the event Iceland packed the midfield, with Gylfi Sigurdsson, just returned from injury, as a No 10 in possession, a No 8 without the ball. And throughout they played Messi supremely well, with Aron Einar Gunnarsson always quick to intrude on his personal space.

A huge punted long pass from back to front put Alfred Finnbogason in for a shot over the bar. And from the ensuing sweep-keeper horror show of a goal-kick Birkir Bjarnason scuffed past the post on the run when he looked certain to score.

There was a reminder after 20 minutes had gone that Messi is not the only world-class footballer in Argentina’s team. Nobody works a pocket of space quite like Agüero, a player with legs so rubbery he can spring through a 180-degree circle in the time it takes others to think about raising their left foot.

Here Agüero took the ball in the area and pirouetted away from Ragnar Sigurdsson. No back-lift was required. With a swish of air the ball was in the top corner.

Finnbogason’s equaliser a few minutes later was the product of excellent Icelandic pressing, drawing slackness down the right and that fumble from Caballero as the cross from Gylfi Sigurdsson came in. Iceland’s centre-forward moved more quickly than the swamp-bound defenders around him to poke the ball home.

Iceland sat back. Argentina pressed without any real sense of edge. There was a shout for a penalty as the ball bounced up from close range and hit the hand of the sliding Ragnar Sigurdsson. Jorge Sampaoli, the Argentina coach, capered and fumed on the touchline. But Sigurdsson was guilty of little more than possessing arms in the usual place arms tend to be.

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For long periods after the break Argentina were ponderous in central midfield against opponents who dropped deep. Ángel Di María provided little effective width. On the right Eduardo Salvio made good ground at times. There were chances, shots that whistled just wide, and that missed Messi penalty. But Iceland were cool throughout, their point welcomed with a huge Nordic cheer.

No doubt some will draw a parallel with Cristiano Ronaldo’s wonderful hat-trick on Friday evening – an extreme contrast with Messi’s impotence here. But this was an occasion that belonged above all to the men from the volcanic rock in the middle of the Atlantic, whose extraordinary world tour is not showing any sign of losing its momentum yet.