After a thrilling last-eight match ended 1-1 at the conclusion of extra time, Croatia shocked Brazil to win 4-2 on penalties and advance to the World Cup semifinals on Friday.
In the penalty shootout, Marquinhos missed the go-ahead penalty and hit the post when he needed to score to keep Brazil in the game after Rodrygo’s initial attempt had been stopped by Croatia’s Dominik Livakovic and they had successfully converted all four of their penalties.
It was a spectacular turnaround after Brazil appeared to be heading for victory when Neymar scored the game’s first goal halfway through extra time to tie Pele’s Brazilian record of 77 goals in international play.
However, Bruno Petkovic responded at the other end for Croatia in the 117th minute to force a shootout. Zlatko Dalic’s squad then followed up their victory over Japan on penalties in the previous round with this triumph, which must go down as their greatest-ever success.
They make it to the semifinals, but Brazil will have to hold out until at least another four years before claiming a record-extending sixth championship.
At the conclusion of the first period of extra time, Neymar, who later left the field in tears, gave Brazil the lead after exchanging passes with Lucas Paqueta and Rodrygo and then rounding goalie Livakovic to score.
However, Croatia’s fight remained unbroken, as the World Cup champions of 2018 came back to tie the game.
Brazil’s victory over South Korea in the round of 16 showcased an attacking flair they had never displayed before.
With the exception of their defeat to France in the World Cup final four years ago, Croatia has now gone to extra time in eight of their last nine major tournament knockout matches. Croatia was as obstinate and challenging to break down as ever.
Brazil will never be able to play as freely and joyfully as they did when they destroyed South Korea, when they celebrated their goals with rehearsed dance routines that appeared to irk some onlookers.
Fear of losing
Given the immense pressure that the Brazilian national team is constantly under during a World Cup, the task for coach Tite’s team was to avoid letting the dread of losing take away all that joy.
As the tournament continues, the stakes increase, and Brazil entered Friday’s match at Doha’s Education City Stadium hoping to avoid stumbling into yet another trap laid by a skilled European team.
Brazil had been eliminated by European competition from each of the previous four World Cups, either at this point or in the semifinals.
Despite only having four million citizens, Croatia reached the final four years ago, and at 37 years old, Luka Modric is still one of the world’s best players.
It turns out that a midfield three consisting of Modric, Mateo Kovacic of Chelsea, and Marcelo Brozovic of Inter Milan can compete with Brazil as well.
Against South Korea, the Selecao scored four goals in the opening 36 minutes.
Here, they only managed three efforts on goal in the first half, and Dinamo Zagreb shot-stopper Livakovic wasn’t truly concerned by anything.
Within the first two minutes of the second half, Brazil came close to scoring as Josko Gvardiol nearly converted an Eder Militao cutback into his own goal before Livakovic made stops on shots from Richarlison, Neymar, and Paqueta.
Additional Livakovic stops came from Neymar and Paqueta, which diminished some of the Brazilian crowd’s confidence.
Neymar’s opening goal gave Croatia all the signs that they were doomed, but they showed incredible resiliency to tie the score when Petkovic placed a first-time finish to a low center by fellow substitute Mislav Orsic.
Then came the penalty kicks, and for Croatia, Nikola Vlasic, Lovro Majer, Modric, and Orsic all scored, while Rodrygo and Marquinhos missed.
Neymar’s tournament comes to an end in tears since he was not given the opportunity to take Brazil’s decisive kick.
