World Championship: Croatia Defeated Russia on Penalties, Advances to Semifinals Against England

In its fifth appearance at the World Cup, the Croatian national team has secured a place in the semifinals for the second time in history by defeating the Russian national team in Saturday’s quarterfinal held in Sochi through a better penalty shootout, after the score was 1-1 at the end of regular time and 2-2 after extra time.

In the penalty shootout, Ivan Rakitić scored the decisive goal again, Danijel Subašić saved Smolov’s first shot in the shootout, and Fernandes missed the target. Besides Rakitić, Brozović, Modrić, and Vida were precise, while Kovačić’s shot was saved by Akinfejev.

>>>The Croatian national team is valued at 360 million euros, while the Russian team is valued at 160

For a place in the final, Croatia will fight on July 11 (8 PM) in Moscow against the English national team, which defeated Sweden 2-0 in the quarterfinals.

The home team took the lead first in front of 44,287 spectators at the Fisht Stadium, with Denis Cheryshev scoring the opening goal for Russia in the 31st minute with a precise and powerful shot from 22-23 meters that beat Danijel Subašić.

Eight minutes later, Croatia equalized. Mario Mandžukić initiated a counterattack on the left side, reached the ball five meters from the goal, and then crossed it to the head of Andrej Kramarić, who sent the ball into the net past the helpless Akinfejev.

Croatia was the better team in the second half, but no more goals were scored until the end of regular time.

In extra time, Croatia took the lead in the 101st minute. Luka Modrić took a corner kick, and with a precise header from about 10 meters, Domagoj Vida sent the ball into the lower left corner.

Russia equalized in the 115th minute. A free kick from the right edge of the penalty area was taken by Dzagoev, and the tallest in the jump was Fernandes, who headed the ball into the lower right corner of our goal for 2-2.

The decision on the winner fell in the penalty shootout, in which Croatia and Russia reached the quarterfinals by defeating Denmark and Spain, respectively, when the goalkeepers, our Danijel Subašić and Russian captain Igor Akinfeev, were the heroes. Croatia ultimately triumphed in the penalties with a score of 4-3.

The semifinal match Croatia-England will be played on Wednesday.

Grabar-Kitarović and Medvedev in the Stands

The match was attended by numerous dignitaries in the stands of the Olympic Fisht Stadium in Sochi, including the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev and Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović.

Also present at the match was FIFA President Gianni Infantino, Russian Minister of Sports Pavel Kolobkov, Deputy Prime Ministers of the Russian government Olga Golodets and Vitaly Mutko, and the Governor of the Krasnodar Region Veniamin Kondratiev.

>>>The Croatian national team has earned 16 million dollars so far

The Croatian ambassador to Russia, Tončić Staničić, also attended the match, as did the President of the Croatian Football Federation Davor Šuker and his Russian counterpart Aleksander Alayev.

The Russian-Croatian match was also attended by the President of the American Football Federation Carlos Cordeiro, numerous football legends including our Goran Vlaović, and Russian Aleksey Smertin.

Among the special guests was Nikita Simonjan (91), the top scorer in Spartak’s history, and a former Soviet representative who played for the ‘Zbornaya’ at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, where the USSR reached the quarterfinals.