Croatia knocks Brazil out of World Cup
Brazil bid farewell to the World Cup after losing to Croatia, on penalties (4-2) after the end of the original and extra time with a positive draw with a goal for each team, in the match that brought them together in the quarter-finals of the competition.
Neymar da Silva scored Brazil's goal in the 105+1 minute in the first extra period, and Bruno Petkovic equalized the score for Croatia in the 117th minute, to head the match to penalties that decided the qualification of the Croats.
The first danger in the match came 5 minutes after the start of the match, after Vinicius Jr. received the ball on the left wing, to launch a powerful shot from outside the area, but Croatian goalkeeper Livakovic managed to catch it.
In the 12th minute, Pasalic got the ball on the right flank, to cross into the Brazilian box, but Perisic failed to follow it up with the net to pass in front of his old one out of the field.
The Croatian defense deflected Vinicius' shot to bounce back to Neymar, who penetrated into the box and fired a shot, but it was not strong enough to easily reach the hands of Livakovic.
The Seleção got a free kick in the 42nd minute, from the edge of the Croatian penalty area on the left side, Neymar shot it directly towards the goal, but it easily reached the arms of the Croatian goalkeeper.
In the second minute of the second half, Brazil almost scored their first goal, after a fatal mistake from Croatian defender Josko Gvardiol, who almost put the ball in his team's net by mistake had it not been for the brilliance of goalkeeper Livakovic, who kept it away from his goal.
The ball bounced back to the feet of the Seleção players to pass Vinicius the ball to Neymar, who shot the ball and hit the Croatian defense to find Vinicius, who played the role of striker and completely singled out the goal and launched the ball towards the net, but the brilliant goalkeeper brilliantly removed it from his goal.
And from a magic pass from Richarlison, who was late and passed from in front of the penalty area a ball in the 55th minute to Neymar, hit the depth of Croatia, to launch Neymar shot from in front of the six-yard area, but Livakovic continued his brilliance and cleared the ball with a wonderful save with the foot.
And made Tite coach of Brazil, the first substitutions of his team in the 56th minute, the exit of Rafinha, to pay Anthony instead, in an attempt to activate the offensive side of the right front, and made another substitution in the 64th minute, the exit of Vinicius and the descent of Rodrigo.
And shine Livakovic and deprived Brazil of the opportunity for a goal achieved in the 66th minute, after errors in passing from Croatian defenders, to find Lucas Paqueta average field samba, the ball in front of him in front of the goal and shot towards the net, but the goalkeeper continued to express himself and removed it to a corner.
Livakovic returned to criticize the Croatia goal from a goal achieved in the 76th minute, three passes started from Rodrigo to Richarlison to pass a ball in the depth received by Neymar and shot into the net, but Leyva came out of his goal valiantly and turned it away with a wonderful save with the foot to a new corner.
In another shot, Livakovic continued to be in excellent form from the first minute, saving a shot from Paqueta's feet, who took advantage of a pass from Rodrigo to launch Paqueta's creeping ground shot, which was saved by the Croatian goalkeeper.
In the 85th minute, the ball reached Militão on the edge of the penalty area and the defender hit a powerful ground shot that hit the foot of a Croatia defender and passed next to the left post for a corner.
The original time of the match ended in a goalless draw, so the two teams resorted to playing extra rounds to decide the semi-finalist of the competition.
In the 101st minute, from a cross into the area, Brazilian striker Pedro met it with a scissor shot but it was weak to easily reach the arms of Livakovic.
Brozovic missed Croatia's first chance in the 103rd minute, after a great pass from Petkovic, who passed brilliantly from two Brazilian defenders, to pass the ball to the next from behind Brozovic but fired a shot completely wide of goal.
In the 105+1 minute, Neymar da Silva managed to score the first goals of the match, after a wonderful set of passes, which Neymar began with a pass with Rodrigo to return to Neymar, who passed it to Paqueta deep in Croatia and returned it to him again, and the Brazilian star passes and dribbles the goalkeeper and shoots the ball into the net.
Substitute Petkovic succeeded in leveling the score in the 117th minute, after a cross from Orcic was met by Petkovic with a direct shot that hit Brazilian defender Marquinhos and passed into the net.
In the 120+2 minute, Thiago Silva was close to scoring a second fatal goal for samba, after following up on Neymar's cross, but the Croatian goalkeeper managed to save it, to end the match in a draw (1-1), and they are heading for penalties.
