Winners and losers from a dramatic day of World Cup action

The goals continued to pile up during another eventful day of World Cup action. Here, theScore takes a look at some of the winners and losers from a day full of drama:

Winner: Argentina

Jorge Sampaoli is a lucky man. After the disastrous 3-0 defeat to Croatia on Thursday, for which Sampaoli took full responsibility, Argentina's hopes of progressing to the knockout round were hanging by a thread.

Related: Sampaoli, not Messi, to blame for Argentina's Croatia collapse

Enter Nigeria. The Super Eagles' 2-0 win over Iceland on Friday, their first of this tournament, threw Group D wide open and gave Sampaoli and Co. a merciful chance of a reprieve.

Having scored just once in 180 minutes so far in Russia, Argentina now knows it can scrape through to the knockout stages with barely a pulse if it beats Nigeria on Tuesday. There will be plenty of nervous eyes on Iceland's game with Croatia, though. - Tom Nightingale

Loser: Gylfi Sigurdsson

After Nigeria took a 2-0 lead into the final 10 minutes of Friday's Group D encounter, Iceland was given a glimmer of hope when the reliable Gylfi Sigurdsson stepped up to take a penalty with the hopes of a nation on his shoulders.

The Everton midfielder had been almost automatic from the spot, missing just two of his 25 penalty attempts. But the pressure apparently got the best of Sigurdsson when he shockingly skied his shot well over the crossbar.

The miss ultimately ended Iceland's hopes of coming away from the tie with a point, leaving the darling of Euro 2016 in desperate need of a win against Group D leader Croatia if its World Cup journey is to continue beyond the group stage. - Gordon Brunt

Winner: Douglas Costa

Brazil, underwhelming in its first game and desperately needing to beat Costa Rica to avoid an unprecedentedly embarrassing start to a World Cup, looked devoid of ideas in attempting to break down its sub-standard opponent.

That is, until the introduction of Douglas Costa at half-time. The Juventus winger provided the impetus Tite's side had been missing, stretching the Costa Rica defence to its limits and finally allowing Brazil to pepper Keylor Navas' goal with shots.

His influence finally told at the death, as the Selecao cut open its opposition, and it was his ball across goal tapped in by Neymar that sealed a 2-0 win. - Nightingale

Loser: Serbia

It was a dream start for a Serbia team that needed a win Friday to book a ticket to the knockout stage. Instead, Mladen Krstajic's men ended the Group E encounter as the first team to allow an opponent to claim a win from a losing position.

Aleksandar Mitrovic opened the scoring after five minutes before Switzerland mounted a second-half comeback with stunning goals from Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri.

Before Shaqiri's winner, however, Serbia had a legitimate shout for a penalty when the referee and VAR opted against calling a foul for Mitrovic. The forward looked as though he would have a chance to break the deadlock but was prevented from getting his head to a cross when two Swiss players held him down. - Brunt

Winners: Gernot Rohr and Ahmed Musa

Nigeria, outplayed by Croatia in its first group game, faced a heartbreaking early exit if it suffered the same fate against the Icelanders. Accordingly, coach Gernot Rohr made three changes to his side, the most notable of which were the inclusion of strikers Ahmed Musa and Kelechi Iheanacho.

The tactic, it seemed, was to cause havoc with the pace that was missing against Croatia, and the gamble paid off in some style: Nigeria was a far greater pressing force than it had been a few days prior and Iceland, which looked accomplished in drawing with Argentina, simply couldn't cope.

Musa was the biggest beneficiary, finding space amid the opposing backline. His touch and finish from Victor Moses' cross showed his technique and predatory instincts, and the CSKA Moscow striker would add a second in starkly different fashion, controlling a long ball and rounding Hannes Halldorsson, and surely cementing his position as Rohr's go-to forward henceforth. - Nightingale

Loser: Neymar's acting career

Neymar didn't win any fans when his conniving theatrics were exposed.

As if he thought cameras weren't watching, Neymar went down without much contact before the match official awarded Brazil with a penalty. Thankfully, VAR was called into action and quickly overturned the call. The referee would then book Neymar for dissent.

Neymar's frustrations were short-lived, as he scored late in the match to help Brazil secure a 2-0 win to remain top of Group E. - Brunt

Winners: Goal-hungry fans

This tournament has been called many things thus far. The set-piece World Cup. The own goal World Cup. The 1-0 World Cup. There's one thing of which it most certainly can't be accused, though.

Mitrovic's opener in Serbia's eventual defeat ensured Friday's final fixture would be the 26th consecutive game to start this tournament without a 0-0 draw.

Plenty of the goals we've seen have been delayed through a VAR review or scored directly or indirectly from a dead ball, but hey, as long as a minimum of one keeps flying in per game, we'll forgive that. - Nightingale

Loser: Ederson

Ederson's chances of starting a match at the World Cup took a massive blow if head coach Tite checks the footage of the celebrations that took place after Philippe Coutinho's injury-time winner.

The 57-year-old was overcome with joy and went to join his team on the pitch before an overzealous Ederson nudged him in the back, causing Tite to tumble to the ground. After the victory, Tite revealed he "pulled a muscle" during the incident.

Could it have been Ederson's way of getting back at the Brazil boss for picking Alisson over him to feature between the sticks? Pep Guardiola, watch your back. - Brunt

(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)