Dominik Livakovic emerged as Croatia’s savior, making three crucial stops to help his country advance to the World Cup quarterfinals as they overcame Japan
3-1 on penalties at Al Janoub Stadium, breaking the Samurai Blue’s hearts.
After defeating Spain and Germany in the group stage, Hajime Moriyasu’s Japan team entered the game feeling confident and was hoping to add a third European opponent to their list of tournament victories.
Predictably, Croatia looked to control the ball early on in the match. Japan, though, were the team who produced the better opportunities and appeared more dangerous moving forward, despite their early lack of possession.
Samurai Blue Possession of The Ball
The Samurai Blue finally had more possession of the ball toward the end of the opening frame and scored the opening goal two minutes before halftime. Ritsu Doan’s initial cross was knocked down by Maya Yoshida in the six-yard area, and Daizen Maeda responded quickly to put the ball past Croatia goalkeeper Dominic Livakovic.
Ten minutes into the second half, Croatia scored a crucial equalizer completely against the flow of play. Ivan Perisic from within the box headed Dejan Lovren’s deep cross into the far corner to bring Zlatko Dalic’s team back into the game.
Croatia started to get into the game after that and kept improving. Despite the fact that both teams had better opportunities to score, they were tied after 90 minutes and extra time was necessary for the first time in this year’s competition.
In the 104th minute of extra time, Kaoru Mitoma had the finest opportunity for Japan, but Livakovic expertly stopped his fierce shot on goal following a brilliant run from within his own half.
Penalties were required to determine a winner after extra time ended scorelessly.
For Japan, the shootout was a nightmare as Livakovic in the Croatian goal saved three of their penalty kicks.
Croatia Reaches Round of 8
Croatia advanced to the round of eight after Mario Pasalic converted the game-winning penalty. On Friday afternoon at the Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan, Croatia will take on either South Korea or Brazil.
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