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Ivan Perišić celebrates his equalizing goal
Photo:
Elsa/Getty Images
Croatia has reached the quarterfinals of the World Cup in Qatar.
Real Madrid star Luka Modrić's side defeated Japan on penalties after a 1-1 draw in 120 minutes and will now meet the winner of the match between Brazil and South Korea on Monday evening (20th March) in the quarter-finals on Friday (4pm CEST). Watch).
Japan had already failed in 2002, 2010 and 2018 in the round of 16.
The first half belonged to the Japanese.
First, Shogo Taniguchi missed the goal with a header (3').
Then Daizen Maeda and Yuto Nagatomo missed a cross (12') before Daichi Kamada shot over the goal (41').
Ivan Perišić missed the best opportunity for Croatia (8th).
The pressure from the Japanese should pay off in the first half.
After a corner variation, Junya Ito crossed into the middle, the ball bounced off a Croatian leg in front of Maeda's feet, who scored the lead from a few meters (43').
Croatia struck back: Perišić headed in a Dejan Lovren cross from around twelve meters into the goal (55').
It was his sixth goal at World Championships.
Japan's Wataru Endo almost made it 2-1 in return, but Dominik Livaković's save prevented this (57').
But Croatia was much better in the game.
Luka Modrić tried a long-range shot that was parried by Japan keeper Shuichi Gonda (62').
Ante Budimir's header landed just wide of the goal.
And Perišić's long-range shot was cleared for a corner (78').
However, a goal was not scored in regular time, it went into the first overtime of the World Cup in Qatar.
And that's where Japan had their first big chance, Kaoru Mitoma tested Livaković, who steered the ball over the bar (105').
Lovro Majer shot just wide of the left of the Japanese goal (120th).
It went to penalties.
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