Croatia vs. Nigeria final score: Own goal, penalty kick from Modric lifts Europeans into first in Group D

It was a poor showing from Nigeria, who did next to nothing

By Roger Gonzalez

Jun 16, 2018 at 9:13 pm ET • 1 min read

Croatia has control of Group D at the 2018 World Cup after beating Nigeria 2-0 on Saturday. With Argentina's surprising draw against Iceland earlier in the day, Croatia has three points and a two-point advantage in the group.

It wasn't a challenging match for the victors as Nigeria struggled to put much of anything together. They were sloppy, couldn't hold on to the ball and lacked creativity in the final, but Croatia was far from convincing as well. They scored on an own goal and a penalty kick to win.

Oghenekaro Etebo knocked the ball into his own net in the first half for what was the winning goal:

Mandzukic gets there first, but Nigeria's Etebo gets the final touch to put the Croatians ahead! pic.twitter.com/fmmoTpEbPf
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 16, 2018

Then a penalty kick was awarded to Croatia for a challenge in the box, and Luka Modric made no mistake, finishing with accuracy:

Another game, another penalty!

Luka Modric buries it to give Croatia a 2-0 lead vs Nigeria. pic.twitter.com/baiod1fwIJ
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 16, 2018

It's a great start to the tournament for Croatia, and now Nigeria is in a tough spot, needing something against Iceland next week if it wants to have a chance to advance.