Brazil and Netherlands were knocked out in the quarterfinals of the 2022 FIFA World Cup hosted in Qatar, last night; meanwhile Croatia and Argentina progressed to the semifinals of the tournament.
Saturday | December 10, 2022
Croatia dumped World Cup favourites Brazil out of the tournament at Education City Stadium in Ar Rayyan last night.
The shocking exit was punctuated by intense dramatic moments from last-minute goal to terrible penalties kicks.
Neither national team managed to score a single goal in the 90 minutes of regular time.
However, Neymar Jnr. strung a few interpasses from the halfway line and pierced through a tight-knitted Croatian rock solid defence to give the Brazilians a slender lead in the extra-time (105+1′).
Staring at the prospects of elimination at the highest competitive football level, Croatia mastered a brave comeback through a Bruno Petkovic (117′) goal to force the duel into penalties.
With the score pretty poised (1-1), the Croatians had a reliable talisman captain Luka Modric (37) pulling string in the middle and their goalkeeper Dominick Livakovic who gave a sterling performance all round.
Croatia eased their way to victory, thanks to Livakovic’s heroic penalty-stopping moments in goals. Brazil penalty takers were alarmingly awful.
Croatia prevailed 4-2 on penalty kicks and snuffed out the Brazilian 2022 World Cup-lifting dream from their collective decorated grasp.
In the semi-final, Croatia will brave yet again another supremely talented top-ranked Argentina national at Lusail Stadium in Lusail on Tuesday, Dec. 13 at 21h00.
Argentina 2 (4-3 penalties) 2 Netherlands
Argentina got a headstart when Lionel Messi squeezed a sumptuous pass to Nahuel Molina (35′) who slotted home at Lusail Stadium in Lusail Friday night.
In the 73rd minute, Messi converted from a spotkick after Denzel Dumfries hacked Acuna in the box and the referee pointed to the penalty spot.
When the South Americans thought they secured their path to the semi-final, substitute Wout Weghorst produced a phenomenal brace (83′, 90+11′).
With extra-time safely fully earned and flat on the horizon, Netherlands breathed a sigh of relief while the Argentinian fans were shell-shocked at a packed to the rafters Lusail stadium.
Even though Argentina swallowed the pain of throwing away a potential victory in the dying minutes of the game, they finished stronger in the extra-time. Both national teams failed to score at any moment with 30 minutes added time. The only event was Dumfries sent off in the 128th minute.
Argentina won the heart-stopping penalties 4-3 and that is how Netherlands orange ferrytale came to a grinding halt.
Argentina will face the resilient Croatia next Tuesday, Dec. 13 in Lusail, Qatar.
Saturday | Dec. 10 FIFA World Cup Quarterfinals:
Portugal vs Morocco at Al Thumama Stadium (Doha) – 17h00
England vs France at Al Bayt Stadium in (Al Khor) – 21h00