Croatia tops England in extra time to reach World Cup final
Source: USA Today
England saw its best chance of ending several generations worth of World Cup pain slip away on Wednesday night, as Croatia fought back for a 2-1 win in extra time, securing a spot against France in Sundays final.
England had not been to a semifinal since 1990, and not reached the title game since it won soccers greatest prize for the only time back in 1966. This, for much of a wild and rugged evening at Luzhniki Stadium, looked like the time. Until it wasnt.
Croatia was one of the most impressive teams of the group stage before surviving two penalty shootouts to reach this point. Its technical ability and fierce resiliency allowed it to capitalize on Englands nervous lapses when victory was in sight.
Mario Mandzukic got the winner in injury time to put Croatia, with previously a tournament-best semifinal in 1998 to its name, one game away from winning it all.
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/soccer/worldcup/2018/07/11/croatia-england-mario-mandzukic-world-cup-semifinals/776569002/
It's Croatia vs. France.
All the Best to both teams.
stevil
(1,537 posts)Congrats to Croatia. Great to see some new teams in the final. Wish Senegal was in it, I have lots of friends from there.
Wwcd
(6,288 posts)Trafalgar Square, London.
Be there!
dhill926
(16,234 posts)Wwcd
(6,288 posts)Snellius
(6,881 posts)Hope they go all the way.
TygrBright
(20,733 posts)...gee, wonder what they could do with it?
provocatively,
Bright
SergeStorms
(18,907 posts)Donald Trump was behind the loss the entire way!
SergeStorms
(18,907 posts)I was pulling for them, but Croatia deserved the win. Those two Brit defenders must have had simultaneous brain-farts to allow Mandzukic to get behind them like that.
Nailzberg
(4,610 posts)The overtimes. The shoot-outs. How they find an equalizer or winning goal at the most dramatic possible moment. These Croatia matches have been my favorite of the WC.