Croatia Comeback Zings England

Published on 11-Jul-2018 by srijan213

Soccer    Soccer Daily Update

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Croatia Comeback Zings England

All through this World Cup, the spotlight has featured football's glamor clubs, from the spectacular Brazilians to the defending titlist Germans and on to the Belgians' golden generation.

Not to mention England, home of the Premiership, which is the globe's most popular league.

And why not? Those are the sides that generate clicks and ring up cash registers, just like big brands in any other sport.

So far, though, unfashionable Croatia has outlasted them all.

 

This is the semi-final England manager Gareth Southgate wanted. Dude tossed out a side of substitutes in the group match against a Belgian crew also laden with extras as both attempted to underwhelm each other to stay in the non-Brazil, non-France side of the bracket.

Croatia had no interest in that sorta deep thinking. The Vatreni were just happy to be in Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium playing for their first-ever spot in the World Cup final.

After a second-half equalizer and a long cross that led to a cracking goal in extra time, they got it, 2-1.


There was never much thought that this pairing would ever produce a chess match, and it wasn't. More like checkers.

And the English got the first jump after only five minutes. After a totally needless Croatian foul, Kieran Trippier curled a stunning free kick that made Moscow pulse:


With both sides designed for industrious football, the game kept a good pace and both teams had strong chances later in the first half.

Harry Kane missed a point-blank opportunity on Danijel Subašić at the 30th after pinpoint passes from Raheem Sterling and Jesse Lingard set him up. Turns out the Three Lions would come to regret this one:


Southgate's side even more in control outta the intermission. England seemed to be 'way fresher than the Vatreni, as the Croatians had already played in two extra time-and-penalty shootouts in a row.

Despite any fatigue, dudes rose from the ashes and punished England's wasted chances. At the 68th, Šime Vrsaljko crossed a perfect ball to Ivan Perisić score the equalizer:


So much for being outta gas.

Maybe the energy drinks kicked in or something.

 

After that, England felt the blow, and Croatia started to dictate the pace of the game, controlling the large majority of the offensive action.

They were unlucky not to pop the winner in regulation:


Thus, it was on to Croatia's third extra-time match in a row.

By this time, England supporters started viewing events with rose-colored glasses:

 

Too bad they didn't have 3D TV.

A better angle confirmed it was Mario Mandzukić who got that second yellow, quashing a conspiracy theory in the bud:

13 minutes later, Mandzukić got on to another excellent long cross to beat Jordan Pickford with a low drive into the bottom corner:


England fought until the end, but their long-ball game didn't produce any more close-quarters finishes. Croatia had put yet another fancied side in the bag.

So, after 62 games, contestants for the final clash of this 2018 World Cup edition have presented themselves.

It'll be the tireless Blazers against France in this stadium on Sun 15 Jul.

Click on a photo to enlarge.