Friday, December 9, 2022 – 10:44 PM
Doha, December 9, WAM/ The Croatian national football team continued its start in the 2022 World Cup and qualified for the semi-finals at the expense of the Brazilian team, which has the record number of times winning the world title (5 times), and is ranked first in the world.
The Croatian team succeeded in qualifying for the semi-finals by defeating its Brazilian counterpart 4-2 on penalties, after the match between them ended in a 1-1 draw in the quarter-finals of the tournament today.
The Croatian national team will meet in the semi-finals with the winner of the match between the Argentine and Dutch teams, which will also be held today in the quarter-finals.
The Croatian national team won second place in the 2018 World Cup in Russia, and is one step away from repeating the achievement of reaching the final for the second edition in a row.
The Croatian team deprived its Brazilian counterpart of the dream of regaining the world title, which he won for the fifth time in 2002 in South Korea and Japan.
The Brazilian team tried to impose its control over the course of the game at the beginning of the match, but the Croatian competitor was keen to put constant pressure on the Brazilian players. Croatian Ivan Perisic also had a valuable opportunity in the 13th minute, but he missed it.
The two teams exchanged attacks in the middle of the first half, as the Croatian national team was a strong competitor to its Brazilian counterpart and did not give the Brazilian attackers enough opportunity to threaten the Croatian goal. Indeed, Josep Juranovic and Luka Modric were two of the best players in this half.
With the start of the second half, the Brazilian national team almost opened the scoring after a confusion in front of the Croatian goal in the 48th minute, but the defense and the Croatian goalkeeper spoiled the attempt. The two teams exchanged offensive attempts in the following minutes, with Croatia controlling the midfield.
And with the changes made by the Brazilian national team to its ranks, with Anthony and Rodrigo descending instead of Ravinia and Vinicius Junior, the team regained control of the match starting in the middle of the second half, and the team made several offensive attempts towards the Croatian goal in the last minutes without succeeding in scoring, so the original time ended in a goalless draw. Both teams go to extra time.
And the tie continued to exist between the two teams until the first minute of stoppage time came for the first extra half, to witness the goal of progress, signed by Neymar.
The goal came after an attack in which Neymar exchanged the ball and then passed it to Paquita on the edge of the penalty area, so that Neymar crossed the Croatian goalkeeper and hit the ball into the roof of the goal.
But the Brazilian team’s celebration of the goal did not last long, as the Croatian team scored the equalizer through substitute player Bruno Petkovic in the 117th minute, after a pass from the other substitute, Mislav Orsic.
And with the end of the original and additional time in a tie, the two teams ruled a penalty shootout, which decided qualification in favor of the Croatian team.
Emad Al-Ali / Ahmed Zahran