Watch: Croatian national team fans' celebrations in Zagreb (from Twitter)
Tonight (Monday), the Croatian national team continued its tradition from the previous World Cup and again did not achieve a knockout decision in 90 minutes.
The world runner-up fell behind against Japan at the end of the first half, but Ivan Perišić equalized in the 55th minute and sent the game to overtime and penalties, during which Dominik Liebakovic starred and led to a 1:3 victory.
Croatia is now waiting in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup for the winner between Brazil and South Korea, in a match that will be held on Friday at 17:00.
The moving picture at the end was of captain Luka Modric, who was substituted at the start of extra time and knew it might be his last game in major tournaments.
The veteran Real Madrid midfielder approached the goalkeeper who had stopped three penalties and kissed him on the forehead.
He has at least one more game.
Luka Modric thanks Dominic Liebakovic (Photo: Reuters)
The responses
Dominic Liebakovic
was of course chosen as the man of the match and said at the end: "The feelings are wonderful, first of all for the team. The atmosphere was great, thanks to the fans who came here. It was a tough game, the Japanese pressed well in the opening and were ready for us, but we also came prepared. We won in the most difficult moments This is the best game of my life and the most beautiful moments of my career."
Captain
Luka Modric
let out a sigh of relief: "We can't do without drama. The Japanese are very annoying, they didn't stop running. It was an exhausting game, it reminded me of Russia. We're glad we got through, Libakovic was responsible for today's miracle. I take my hat off to him , he showed what a great goalkeeper he is. I promise that in the next game we will be better."
Nikola Vlasic
He added: "When your goalkeeper takes three penalties, you cannot lose. We practiced the penalties in training and this game proved what a united team we have here. We suffered against Japan, but we were also aware of their weaknesses and knew how to exploit them. Who will we play against now? I estimate that Brazil will win , but everything is possible. We will continue step by step and give everything."
Defender
Borna Barishic
: "We showed how much character and depth there is in our squad. Japan is a strong team that runs non-stop, I finished here with cramping muscles, but we reached penalties and knew we would win. We are all here for one goal: the success of the team. We will recover and start preparing for the quarterfinals. We have the qualities to go far."
Former player
Goran Vlaović
, who was a part of the Croatian national team's third place in the 1998 World Cup, provided a racist statement in his hat as a commentator when he said: "I don't know the Japanese players, they all look the same to me.
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"The best game of my life."
Dominic Libakovich (Photo: Reuters)
Hajima Moriasu thanks the Japanese crowd after the loss
the numbers
* Croatia continued their streak and the second-kick team have now won the last seven times a World Cup knockout match has gone to a penalty shoot-out.
* Japan have yet to win on penalties at the World Cup, with this loss joining a loss in the round of 16 against Paraguay in 2010.
Croatia with a perfect record of three wins, having done it against Denmark and Russia in 2018.
* Dominik Libakovic followed in the footsteps of his predecessor Daniel Sovasic (against Denmark four years ago) and stopped three penalties in the duel.
Before them, only Ricardo the Portuguese did it (in 2006 against England).
* But Libakovic still made history, as the first goalkeeper ever to stop the first two penalties in a duel at the World Cup.
* Seven of Croatia's last eight games in knockout games went into extra time: in the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 against Turkey, in Euro 2016 against Portugal in the round of 16, against Denmark in the 2018 World Cup in the round of 16, against Russia in the quarter-finals of the 2018 World Cup, England in the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup and in the round of 16 of the last Euro against Spain .
The only game that did not go into overtime was the World Cup final against France.
* Only two have been involved in more goals than Ivan Perisic in World Cup matches since 2014 - and those are Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe.
The Argentinian scored 8 and made 4, the French scored 9 and made 2 and the Croatian Prišić scored 6 and made 4 in his first 14 games in the World Cup.
* Only three players scored in the European Championships in 2016 and 2020 as well as in the last three World Cups: Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal, Xherdan Shaqiri of Switzerland and Prisic.
* Perisic also equaled Davor Šuker as Croatia's top goalscorer in World Cup matches - both with six goals each, ahead of Mario Mandzukic who scored 5. If his four goals in European Championship games are also taken into account, he overtook Šuker as the leading scorer in Croatian history when counted Only the two major competitions.
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