DOHA: Croatia arrived at the quarter-finals of the World Cup on Monday with an emotional 3-1 punishment shoot-out prevail upon Japan after a strained last-16 conflict finished 1-1.
Mario Pasalic struck the triumphant punishment to send Croatia through after Ivan Perisic had pulled Croatia level in the 55th moment of typical time following Daizen Maeda’s opener for Japan not long before the break.
Croatia currently face either Brazil or South Korea in the last eight and proceeded with midfield symbol Luka Modric’s visit at his fourth and reasonable last World Cup after Dominik Livakovic saved three of Japan’s frail punishments.
“They gave us a hard game, however we realize that would be the situation, it’s not happenstance that they beat Germany and Spain,” said Nikola Vlasic.
“We had more possibilities and I think we had the right to win.”
Japan’s offered to arrive at the last eight without precedent for their set of experiences reached a devastating conclusion after one more showcase of the sort which saw them top Gathering E.
Anyway they couldn’t guarantee another huge European scalp looking like the 2018 finalists and return home in the subsequent round, as they completed a long time back.
“The players showed us the future, another time of Japanese football,” Japan mentor Hajime Moriyasu said.
“We beat Germany, we beat Spain… Assuming we take trust in that, and assuming that we ponder overwhelming these groups as opposed to simply making up for lost time, what’s in store is splendid.”
Shoot-out win
Japan could undoubtedly have been ahead in no less than three minutes when Shogo Taniguchi looked a header wide from point-clear reach, and after 10 minutes Daizen Maeda verged on turning in Junya Ito’s splendidly positioned low ball from the right flank.
Meanwhile Perisic had let off a shot from a tight point which prompted a goalmouth scramble, yet had Croatia scored they gambled with the objective being precluded for what resembled a reasonable push on Takehiro Tomiyasu.
Bruno Petkovic then squandered an extraordinary open door in the 25th moment, walking around practically unopposed onto a long through ball just to dally and neglect to get a give to Andrej Kramaric who was surging into the container.
Kramaric was then too delayed to even consider hooking on to Perisic’s risky flick-on and from that point Japan assumed command, and the lead.
Daichi Kamada had proactively impacted over after a brilliant passing move when in the 43rd moment Maeda terminated in the opener after Ritsu Doan’s cross was wrecked by Maya Yoshida.
Japan looked the better group and prepared to cause more harm yet out of nowhere Croatia’s most hazardous player Perisic evened out the scores with a shot header from Dejan Lovren’s profound cross.
Very quickly a while later Wataru Endo answered by having a decent strike tipped over the bar by Livakovic, before Shuichi Gonda pulled off the save of the match to keep out Modric’s flawlessly struck, trickling shot.
Modric was supplanted nine minutes into the primary portion of extra-time in which Japan had the most obvious opportunity, Kaoru Mitoma’s work all around tipped away by Livakovic.
With punishments moving close, one last possibility tumbled to Modric’s substitution Lovro Majer, who hauled his shot wide, yet his Livakovic won in the shoot-out to end the Blue Samurai’s engaging experience.
