By Kevin Baxter

Los Angeles Times

MOSCOW — One game into its first World Cup, Iceland has already become the darling of the tournament. And it’s not hard to see why.

In a sport dominated by pampered stern-faced millionaires, Iceland’s roster is filled with giddy blue-collar grinders. Its coach, Heimir Hallgrimsson, is a dentist who still sees patients in between training camps. Its right back, Birkir Saevarsson works at a salt-packing factory and plans to go to school after the World Cup.

“It keeps things in the life normal,” he said. “Staying at home and doing nothing makes me a little lazy and a little soft.”

Then there’s goalkeeper Hannes Halldorsson, the guy who preserved Iceland’s 1-1 draw with Argentina in the team’s tournament opener Saturday with a diving save of a penalty kick by Lionel Messi.

Messi reportedly makes $70 million a year playing for super club Barcelona. When he isn’t stopping shots for tiny Danish club Randers, Halldorsson supports himself as a film director, with his best-known project being Iceland’s video entry for the 2012 Eurovision song contest.

“I think everybody likes our team except the teams we play against,” Halldorsson said . “We’re underdogs, we fight for each other. We fight for the love of football and our country.”

That was apparent against Argentina, with Iceland playing like a team while the South Americans played like a collection of individuals. Iceland’s well-organized defense kept as many as nine men behind the ball, selflessly absorbing unrelenting pressure from some of the world’s best — and best-paid — attacking players.

“It’s football at its purest,” Halldorsson said. “We really don’t fear anybody. But also deep down we know that we come from Iceland. There is always this feeling that maybe they are going to crush us. Maybe that’s also what keeps us on our toes; that we are always a bit worried that we might get smacked.”

Iceland’s game plan wasn’t complicated and it wasn’t entertaining, but it was effective, with David bloodying Goliath’s nose. And when it was over, the smallest country ever to play in a World Cup celebrated like it had won one.

“People are saying, ‘Why do you celebrate a point like you won the game?’ ” Hallgrimsson said. “But just wait and see when we win a game. That’s going to be a celebration.”

Mo better news for Egypt

With Egypt facing likely elimination in Tuesday’s Group A game with Russia, coach Hector Cuper is hoping to have record-setting striker Mohamed Salah available.

Salah, who set a Premier League record with 32 goals for Liverpool this season, sustained a shoulder injury in last month’s European Championship. And though Cuper pronounced him fit for Egypt’s first World Cup match with Uruguay, Salah watched the 1-0 loss from the bench.

“We wanted to avoid any risks in this match,” Cuper said after the opener “but I think he will be fine for the next game.”

Without at least a draw against Russia, Egypt’s path to the second round would be all but blocked while Russia, with a win, would secure its first-ever berth in the knockout round of a World Cup.

World Cup enters the replay age

The World Cup entered the 21st century Saturday when Uruguayan referee Andres Cunha used a video replay to reverse one call on the field and goal-line technology to confirm another in France’s 2-1 win over Australia in Kazan.

Under the Video Assistant Referee system, or VAR, a video referee watching the game from an operations center in Moscow can alert the on-field referee electronically when he believes a “clear and obvious” error has been made in one of four key areas: penalties, red cards, goals and mistaken identity, such as giving a caution to the wrong player.

If the on-field referee agrees an error might have been made, he can pause play and view the field-side replay system.

That is what Cunha did before awarding a penalty kick to France when a replay showed Antoine Griezmann was fouled in the box by Australian defender Joshua Risdon, leading to the game’s first goal.

Less than 20 minutes later, goal-line technology — which relies on electronic aids to determine if a ball cleared the goal line — confirmed Paul Pogba’s game-winning score after it struck the underside of the crossbar.

VAR was also used in Friday’s Spain-Portugal game, but in that case the video confirmed the original call. The system, which is used in MLS and a handful of other leagues around the world, has not been warmly received by many players and coaches who believe stopping a game to review a video interrupts the flow. But French coach Didier Deschamps, whose team benefited from both calls Saturday, was pleased.

“I’m not going to complain about the use of video today,” he said. “It helped correct a mistake.”