The Vatreni do it again. Croatia pulled off a fresh performance against Brazil, big favorites at the 2022 World Cup, after equalizing three minutes from the end, and were eliminated in Friday’s quarter-finals after another grueling penalty shootout (1-1, 4-2).
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The reigning finalists, who have now had eight of their last nine doubles or draws in overtime, meet either the Netherlands or Argentina, who meet tonight, in the semi-finals on Tuesday.
Brazil can have great regrets because at the end of a very tight tactical game they managed to find the lead thanks to Neymar’s 77th goal, happy to equalize Pelé in the 105th minute.
But despite not beating a European opponent in a knockout game since his coronation in 2002, the five-time winner of the event was joined by the indestructible Vatreni. On the brink of suffocation and not very dangerous overall, they found the energy for a final counterattack, fleshed out by Petkovic (117′).
During the fatal session, Rodrygo and Marquinhos missed their attempt, while the four Croatian shooters, who already had the opportunity to score against Japan in 1/8, scored a full hit.
Setting out at a trot and certainly too confident, the Brazilians quickly understood after initial excitement from a cross from Pasalic (12th) that it would not be the same free-kick against the Croatian tacticians as against South Korea.
The Livakovic Wall
Patient, calm and perfectly aligning the midfield to block high the opponent’s breakthroughs, the “Vatreni” took a malicious pleasure to thwart the Seleçao thanks to their licked technique.
Unable to shut out the game or open axial breaches on too-rare individual exploits, the latter left Vinicius to light a few wicks.
Uninspired, the Tite players came back after the break with better intentions but then found Livakovic (47, 55, 66, 76, 120), the Croatian side’s hero of the day, on their way.
The Croatians entered the resistance, struggling with a Modric not very visible to open up Kramaric in front of them and thus increase their block, and then showed they knew how to arch their backs when they Alisson didn’t really worry.
The Brazilians even seemed annoyed by running into a wall and received a handful of cards for poorly controlled gestures (Danilo, Casemiro, Marquinhos).
Neymar’s opener against the Croatians, jaded from all their previous efforts, could have meant a quiet end to the game for the Brazilians, but it was a misunderstanding from the tenacious Croats, who managed to snatch the equalizer while another penalty shoot-out also took place.