DOHA: The scorecard following a 1-1 stalemate in the extra time, Croatia beat Japan 3-1 in the first penalty shootout of the 2022 World Cup, courtesy of Dominik Livakovic’s three saves. Mario Pasalic struck the winning penalty to send Croatia through after Ivan Perisic had pulled Croatia level in the 55th minute of normal time following Daizen Maeda’s opener for Japan just before the break.
Japan could easily have been ahead within three minutes when Shogo Taniguchi glanced a header wide from point-blank range, and 10 minutes later Daizen Maeda came close to turning in Junya Ito’s brilliantly placed low ball from the right flank. In the meantime Perisic had let off a shot from a tight angle which led to a goalmouth scramble, but had Croatia scored they risked the goal being ruled out for what looked like a clear push on Takehiro Tomiyasu.
Japan’s bid to reach the last eight for the first time in their history came to a crushing end after another display of the sort which saw off Spain and Germany on their way to topping Group E.
Croatia won the first penalty shootout at the 2022 World Cup to progress to the quarter-finals in Qatar.Japan missed three spot kicks during the shootout while Croatia only missed one.
The penalty shootout came after a 1-1 draw in normal time. Both sides failed to score in extra time.Croatia will now play either Brazil or South Korea in the last eight. It was heartbreak for Japan as they fell short in the penalty shootout after outplaying Croatia for much of regulation time, in which the match ended 1-1. Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic made three saves while Mario Pasalic kept his calm to turn in the decisive penalty.
Team News
Japan: Gonda; Tomiyasu, Yoshida, Taniguchi; Ito, Endo, Morita, Nagatomo; Doan, Maeda, Kamada;
Croatia: Livakovic; Juranovic, Lovren, Gvardiol, Barisic; Modric, Brozovic, Kovacic; Kramaric, Petkovic, Perisic
(sources: fragments from indian express/hindustantimes/theathletic/fox sports)
