Croatia beat Russia to set up World Cup semi against England

Soccer Football – World Cup – Quarter Final – Russia vs Croatia – Fisht Stadium, Sochi, Russia – July 7, 2018 Croatia players celebrate Croatia’s Marcelo Brozovic (not pictured) scoring a penalty during the shootout REUTERS/Carl Recine

Croatia set up a World Cup semi-final with England after winning 4-3 on penalties against Russia.

Russia and Croatia were playing for the chance to take on England in the semi-finals after their win against Sweden earlier on Saturday, and Croatia might have considered themselves favourites before an attritional slugfest.

However, Russia have impressed all comers so far in this tournament, and surprise package Denis Chersyshev scored one of the goals of the tournaments when he whipped in an effort 25 yards from goal around Danijel Subasic.

Russia’s Denis Cheryshev scores his side’s opening goal during the quarterfinal match between Russia and Croatia at the 2018 soccer World Cup in the Fisht Stadium, in Sochi, Russia, Saturday, July 7, 2018. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

Russia looked in control, but Croatia rediscovered the verve they showed in the early stages when Mario Mandzukic strode into the box on the left to pick out Andrej Kramaric, who glanced a smart header into the far corner.

Croatia’s Andrej Kramaric, left, vies for the ball with Russia’s Daler Kuziaev during the quarterfinal match between Russia and Croatia at the 2018 soccer World Cup in the Fisht Stadium, in Sochi, Russia, Saturday, July 7, 2018. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

At 1-1, the game was evenly balanced and the Russian PM and Croatian president exchanged handshakes for each goal, keeping geopolitics well to the back of everyone’s minds.

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In the second half, Luka Modric was lucky not to be carded for a flick out on Aleksandr Golovin, and Karamic then had an overhead kick that went firmly towards goal but was easily saved by Igor Akinfeev.

Just before the hour mark, Ivan Perisic crashed a low shot in the box against the post, a wonderful chance to go ahead that left the match level despite Croatia’s dominance in possession. Akinfeev was trapped by a mass of his own players, and it looked as just an inch further towards goal would have sealed victory.

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With the game drawing to a close, Artem Dzyuba was withdrawn as he and the rest of the Russian tired appeared to grow tired with the summer heat. The draining nature was made clear when Subasic pulled up with what looked like a mixture of cramp and a hamstring pull as full time drew near, with no substitutes left to call upon, but he was able to continue after heavy physio work in the interim.

Croatia goalkeeper Danijel Subasic grimaces on the ground after injuring himself during the quarterfinal match between Russia and Croatia at the 2018 soccer World Cup at the Fisht Stadium in Sochi, Russia, Saturday, July 7, 2018. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Croatia grabbed what looked to be the winner when Luka Modric – anonymous for much of the match – swung in a corner for Domagoj Vida to rise above the defence and head into the far corner as Akinfeev scrambled to get across, for only his third international goal.

Russia’s Mario Fernandes , centre, scores his side’s second goal during the quarterfinal match between Russia and Croatia at the 2018 soccer World Cup in the Fisht Stadium, in Sochi, Russia, Saturday, July 7, 2018. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

With both teams exhausted the match headed into the second half of extra time, and Russia’s best chance came from Daler Kuzyayev’s volley into Subasic’s grateful arms. Moments later, Mario Fernandes popped up to meet Alan Dzagoev’s set-piece to glance in a vital, superb header, five minutes from the end of time.

Fyodor Smolov saw the recovered Subasic save his penalty, the first of the shootout, to given them an initial advantage, before Akinfeev saved Mateo Kovacic’s effort to level. Fernandes fluffed his chance when he scuffed penalty wide of the post, leaving things a 1-1, before Modric’s penalty was met by Akinfeev before it squeezed in off the post. Ivan Rakitic took the final penalty after nine went before him, calmly slotting home to give his side a semi-final tie against England.

OPTA STATS – RUSSIA 1-1 CROATIA (3-4 ON PENALTIES)

Croatia are the second team to win two penalty shootouts at a single World Cup tournament – the other was Argentina in 1990 (against Yugoslavia and Italy).
Russia are the first host country to be eliminated at the quarter-final stage of a World Cup since Mexico in 1986.
Croatia have qualified for just their second World Cup semi-final, also reaching that stage in 1998.
Denis Cheryshev scored four goals for Russia at the 2018 World Cup – only England striker Harry Kane has scored more (6).
Russia’s Artem Dzyuba was involved in five of Russia’s 10 goals at the 2018 World Cup (3 goals, 2 assists).
14 of the 20 goals conceded by Russia at the World Cup have been scored via set pieces, including seven of the eight they conceded at the 2018 World Cup.
Croatia have now had eight different scorers at the 2018 World Cup – only Belgium (9) have had more.
Both of Croatia’s goals in this game were via headers – only one of their previous 29 World Cup goals was a header.
There were three headed goals in this match – the most in a World Cup match since Germany 8-0 Saudi Arabia in 2002 (5 headers).
Only one of the last six World Cup matches to go to extra-time has not gone to penalties – the 2014 final between Germany and Argentina.

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