Croatia 1-1 Brazil (4-2 On Pens) : Brazil Dumped Out Of 2022 World Cup After Entertaining 1-1 Draw

 


Croatia dumped Brazil out of the World Cup with a victory on penalties after an entertaining 1-1 draw on Friday.

Neymar looked to have won it late in extra time with a glorious solo goal before Bruno Petkovic's surprise equaliser sent the game to penalties, where Rodrygo's effort was saved and Marquinhos hit the post to seal Brazil's fate.

A long-range sighter from Vinicius Junior kicked things off but the first real scare came at the other end as Mario Pasalic's cross found Andrej Kramaric, who failed to make the right contact in an excellent area.

The European nation were undoubtedly on top inside the first 15 minutes, but Vinicius offered a reminder of his threat with a nice strike following some neat passing that forced a smart block from the in-demand Josko Gvardiol.

That was pretty much the extent of the final-third action in the first 45, which was more about the midfield battle than the search for goals. It was more entertaining than it sounds, promise.

Just two minutes into the second half, Croatia fans were sweating as Gvardiol's desperate attempt at an interception nearly led to an own goal, before some hectic defending yielded chances for both Vinicius and Neymar. Among the chaos came a VAR check for a potential handball from Josip Juranovic which was soon dismissed.

A much-improved Brazil kept coming and Neymar found himself through on goal soon after, but his effort was smartly saved by Dominik Livakovic.

The Croatia stopper was at it again soon after, rushing off his line to block a strike from Lucas Paqueta, before Livakovic was the hero again to deny from Neymar.

Both sides threatened as we approached the end of the 90, with Brazil doing more in the final third but failing to come up with the answers needed to beat the Croatian defence, so once again, we headed to extra time.

Antony grew into the most influential player on the pitch after the interval as Brazil looked to exert their dominance, but Marcelo Brozovic should have put Croatia ahead as he skied a cut-back from Bruno Petkovic. Still no shot on target for Croatia.

Just before the interval, Neymar woke up and fired his side ahead. Consecutive one-twos with his teammates saw him weave his way into the box, and after rounding Livakovic, he fired into the roof of the net. The sort of goal only a star player could score.

With Croatia now forced to go for it, they found the unlikeliest of equalisers as Bruno Petkovic's shot -their first on target all game - flicked up off Marquinhos' leg and flew past Alisson to send the game to penalties.

Nikola Vlasic scored first and Croatia took the lead as Livakovic saved from Rodrygo. The next five penalties all went in until the decisive miss from Marquinhos, whose effort flew back off the post and resigned Brazil to the next flight home.

Post a Comment

Previous Post Next Post

Contact Form