Another huge upset of the FIFA World Cup comes in as Croatia beats Brazil out of the tournament. Croatia eliminated Brazil from the World Cup. Croatia defeated the five-time champions 4-2 in a penalty shootout. The match was tied after 1 goal from each team by the end of 120 minutes of play.
After defeating Japan on penalties in the round of 16, the runners-up from 2018 advanced to their second straight shootout. They will now take on either Argentina or the Netherlands, who are scheduled to play later. The five-time world champions’ superstar Neymar scored an extra-time goal. This gave him the illusion of victory in a tense and dramatic evening.
However, Croatia broke Brazilian hearts when Bruno Petkovic, a substitute for Croatia, scored an equalizer. He scored with three minutes remaining in extra time after they had failed to defend their lead. Brazil and Croatia were tied after a tense first half on Friday at the Education City Stadium. Both teams had half-chance opportunities in the structured game, but nothing decisive.
The best opportunity of the half belonged to Croatia. This happened when Ivan Perisic could only mistime and whipped Mario Pasalic’s cross past Alisson’s goalpost. The Brazilians had a much better start to the second half and came close once more in the 66th minute. This is when Lucas Paqueta was stopped by Livakovic. Brazilians have now lost four of their last five World Cup quarterfinal matches. Richarlison put Neymar through in the 55th minute, but his close-range shot was stopped by Livakovic. The referees later dismissed claims for a handball by defender Josip Juranovic after a VAR review.
The Brazilian team tried a few more times in the second half but their shots were denied by the Croatian goalkeeper. At that point in the game, the Croatian Goalkeeper had made seven saves. Whereas, his Brazilian counterpart Alisson had made just 5 in the entire tournament.
Neymar’s solo effort in extra time gave Brazil a 1-0 lead after 90 minutes of play. He started the attack from outside the box and used two one-two passes in quick succession to confuse the weary Croatian defense. Lastly, he rounded the goalkeeper to tie Brazilian legend Pele’s record of 77 goals across all competitions.
Bruno Petkovic’s goal in the 117th minute gave tenacious Croatia a chance to tie the game. Then, they won the shootout after Livakovic stopped Rodrygo’s penalty kick. Whereas, Marquinhos hit the post, leaving Neymar and his teammates inconsolable.
Croatian players Nikola Vlasic, Lovro Majer, Luka Modric, and Mislav Orsic all converted their four penalty shots as they pursued their first world championship.