It was a long and difficult game for Croatia but ultimately the 2018 World Cup finalists managed to win on penalties against Japan and will play for the second time in a row in the quarter finals against the winner of the match between Brazil and South Korea. Both regular and extra time were not enough with the match ending 1-1 and the game was decided on penalties with Croatian goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic saving three penalties ti become the hero of the day.
The first half started off with Japan immediately showing a great attitude, forcing Croatia to be conservative with the ball. Though it was Croatia that had the best chance to score the opening goal of the match twice with Bruno Petkovic and Ivan Perisic, but Japan managed to not concede. The game seemed to be pretty emotionless until the first half neared its end and Japan scored the opening goal of the night in Qatar. Daizen Maeda scored after a corner kick and took advantage of some confusion inside the Croatian box. The Japanese striker was quick enough to arrive first on the ball and didn't miss in front of Dominik Livakovic.
Croatia needed to react in the second half and immediately did with Ivan Perisic, who scored the equalizer with a nice header and became Croatia's top scorer in the World Cup with 6 goals, along with Davor Suker. From that moment on, it seemed that Croatia had something more but the 2018 World Cup finalists didn't push enough and couldn't score despite having two big chances with Luka Modric and Ivan Perisic again. Regular time ended 1-1, and the game went into extra time for the first time in this edition of the competition.
The extra time, as is typically the case, was not unforgettable and the teams were more concerned about avoiding conceding the second goal rather than scoring the winner. The Croatian manager Zlatko Dalic decided to replace Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic and Ivan Perisic before the penalties. However, that was a successful move and Croatia won 3-1 at penalties against Japan thanks to an incredible performance of goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic who saved three penalties. Croatia will play in the quarterfinals against the winner of Brazil and South Korea.
Croatia qualified to the quarter finals after beating Japan at the penalties! What a performance by the Croatian goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic who saved three penalties.
Extra time were not enough to know who is going to the quarter finals here. It's penalties time!
The Croatian coach decided to replace Ivan Perisic as well at the beginning of the second extra time. A quite surprising decision considering that we're getting closer to penalties.
The first 15 minutes of the extra time is over and we're still 1-1 even if Japan had one big chance with Minamino to score the winning goal of the match.
A surprising decision by the Croatian manager Zlatko Vlasic who decided to replace Luka Modric and Mateo Kovacic at the same time. He's definitely thinking about the eventual penalties...
90 minutes were not enough to know who will win between Croatia and Japan so we will go the extra time. Thirty more minutes to watch ahead of us.
It's going to be a crazy end of the match with both teams that are now one goal away from the quarter finals. Croatia had one good chance with Ivan Perisic again but his attempt was saved in corner. Before him, Luka Modric had also another opportunity to score the second goal for Croatia.
We've a nice game now with both Japan and Croatia that had a chance to score another one. Thirty minutes to go!
Ivan Perisic scores! The Tottenham winger scored the equalizer with a very nice header and we're now 1-1 here. Japan need to react after conceding their first goal of the match.
The game has restarted and Croatia need to score at least one to avoid to be eliminated in the next 45 minutes.
After the first half Japan are ahead against Croatia thanks to the goal scored by Daizen Maeda. A disappointing first half for Croatia that had some opportunities but Japan are deserving to be ahead since they were able to score with their first shot on target.
Japan are ahead! Daizen Maeda scored the opening goal of the game after a corner kick and some confusion inside the Croatian box the striker was quick enough to arrive first on the ball and didn't miss in front of Livakovic. It's 1-0 Japan!
Kamada here had a chance to score the opening goal of the match but then his attempt goes wide.
Despite a good start of the match, we didn't have big chances yet. Croatia had a nice opportunity with Bruno Petkovic who later missed the moment to pass it back to his teammates in front of the goalkeeper. Japan were also dangerous in two occasions but nothing to worry about for Croatian goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic.
Japan had a nice start of the match so far but Croatia's first attempt with Ivan Perisic was denied by the defense. It looks like it will be a fun game to watch.
And we're now underway at the Al Janoub Stadium for the first game of today's schedule.
Japan XI: Gonda, Ito, Tomiyasu, Yoshida, Taniguchi, Nagatomo, Endo, Morita, Doan, Kamada, Maeda.
Croatia XI: Livakovic, Juranovic, Lovren, Gvardiol, Barisic, Brozovic, Modric, Kovacic, Perisic, Petkovic, Kramaric.
The Checkered Ones have never lifted the World Cup, but they did make it to the final at Russia 2018 only to lose to France. They also made the semifinals at France 1998 only to lose to, again, France. Luka Modric plays in central midfield for Croatia.
The Samurai Blue have never won the World Cup but they've been ever-present since they qualified for the first time at France 1998. They've reached the round of 16 twice -- at Japan and South Korea 2002, when they were eliminated by Turkey, and Russia 2018, when they lost against Belgium.
Japan qualified for the round of 16 after winning Group E. They took six points from three games -- beating Germany (2-1) and Spain (2-1) to finish in first place despite losing to Costa Rica (1-0). Croatia qualified for the round of 16 after finishing second in Group F. They took five points from three games -- with a win over Canada (4-1) and scoreless draws to Morocco and Belgium. They finished two points behind Morocco but, crucially, one clear of Belgium.
Good morning and welcome to Japan vs. Croatia! This is the second last day of the Round of 16's, with Brazil that will face South Korea later today at 2 p.m.
