Croatia beat Japan on penalties to reach quarter-finals

KATHMANDU: Croatia has entered the quarterfinals of the ongoing FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Croatia advanced to the last eight after beating Japan 3-1 in a penalty shootout at the Al Janoub Stadium on Monday night.

The match ended in a 1-1 draw after the scheduled 90 minutes and added extra time, which turned out to be a thrilling contest, and the match went to penalties.

Croatia managed to win after goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic shined in the penalty.

Croatia’s Nikola Vlasic, Mario Pasalic and Marcelo Brozovic scored on penalties. Marko Livaja missed the penalty.

While Japan’s Takuma Asano scored, Takumi Minamino, Maya Yoshida and Kaoru Mitoma failed to score. All three penalty shots were saved by Croatian goalkeeper Dominic.

Japan took the early lead in the game. Daizen Maeda scored a goal in the 43rd minute of the game to give Japan a 1-0 lead. However, Croatia came back into the game in the second half.

In the 55th minute of the game, Ivan Perisic scored to draw Croatia 1-1. He scored a great goal with a header from Dejan Lovren’s pass.

Japan reached the knockout stages after defeating the two world champions in the group stage. After defeating Germany 2-1 in the first match, Japan defeated Spain 2-1 in the second match.