Croatia goalkeeper, Dominik Livakovic saved a hat-trick of penalties to deny Japan and hand his country a consecutive ticket into the quarter finals of the FIFA World Cup with a 3-1 shootout win over Japan.
Japan will feel hard done but they only have themselves to blame after their penalty takers really made to pay for their poor attempts.
Dictated the tempo for most part of the opening, Japan took a deserved lead just before the break as Celtic striker, Daizen Maeda fired home from inside the 12 yards to score his first goal of the tournament.
A short corner was worked down the right with Ritsu Doan eventually sending a wicked cross into the box. With the cross evading everyone, Maya Yoshida managed to get a touch, which diverted it to the path of Maeda for a simple finish.
It was the least they deserved up to that point and for the first time in Qatar 2022, they take the lead in a match having conceded the first goals in their previous three games.
However, Croatia were back on level terms five minutes before the hour mark as Dejan Lovren’s cross into the box was met by a fantastic header header from Ivan Perisic for his first goal of the tournament.
The Tottenham Hotspur winger, who scored three times on their run to losing the final in the previous edition scored his sixth FIFA World Cup goal, taking him level with Šuker as the all-time most for a Croatia player.
It was also his tenth goal in major tournaments for his country, now making him the top goalscorer, surpassing Davor Šuker, nine.
Moments after that equaliser, Wataru Endo forced a brilliant save off Livakovic with a long range strike, and the Goalkeeper parried the ball out of play for a corner.
On the other end, Luka Modric tried a half volley and almost finds the top corner but for a great interception by Goalkeeper, Shuichi Gonda kept the score level at 1-1 just after the hour mark.
A Luka Modric’s corner ended with Pasalic heading the ball down for Barisic to have a go at goal in a very promising position but Ritsu Doan just managed to nick it away from him just in time before he could get to it. That could have caused real trouble for Japan.
Croatia continued to edge their opponent on possession and had a couple of decent chances to take the lead but could not find a breakthrough and for the first time in Qatar 2022, a game went to extra time.
The game produced no further goals and went to penalties and Livakovic seized the opportunity to claim the hero crown, saving Japan’s first two attempts from Takumi Minamino and Kaoru Mitoma.
After Marko Livaja missed for Croatia, Livakovic again denied another Japanese player, this time their captain, Maya Yoshida, leaving Mario Pasalic with a decisive kick, which he gracefully converted to send Croatia into the quarter finals.
Japan failed to achieve a new height of reaching the World Cup semi finals but did equal their best run in the competition, which was a round of 16 finish 2002, 2010 and 2018.
Author: Kehinde Hassan Afolabi
