Croatia have moved through to the quarter finals after winning the Round of 16 – Japan v Croatia on penalties after the teams couldn’t be split after 120 minutes of regular football. Croatian keeper Dominik Livakovic was the hero with three saves or you could say he collected the ball after some poor penalties. Either way, it was a super game of football and all that happened is below.
Round of 16 Japan v Croatia Match Review
Minutes that Mattered
Welcome to the briefest of match summaries, like a minute by minute you find on professional websites except one that has only the minutes that matter. All wheat, no chaff.
And if the below isn’t enough, for those in Australia you can catch up via the SBS World Cup on Demand.
2′ Min Quite the fast paced opening to this match with early chances galore for Japan. The best a cross into the box for Japan after a corner that gets that final headed contact but goes just wide of the posts. Japan are massively up for this which is good, like the dedicated people in their home country that have to get up fro this too.
3′ Min Again a goalkeeper is officially dilly-dallying with the ball at the back and the Japanese chaser almost makes him pay. MArk our words, the World Cup final will be decided by a goalkeeper/defender stuffing around at the back.
7′ Min Great chance for Croatia. Ivan Perisic in the action down the left as ever. Perisic steals the ball from Japan after a goal kick and he has a shot at the near post but denied by a good save.
12′ Min Another huge chance for Japan. Junya Ito slides in a cross from the right and it narrowly beats everyone including the Croatian goalkeeper and two Japanese attackers.
17′ Min A Japanese player is attacked from behind by a masked man, no it isn’t another episode of Law & Order SVU, but the victim in this case earns free kick. And despite a nice move they don’t score, despite a disapproving stare from Ice T. Ironically, after using the SVU reference for the masked man, he is hit in the privates and rolls around in pain a few minutes later. Ice T disapproves again.
27′ Min Best passage of play from Croatia for the match so far, with a sustained attack in and around the Japanese penalty area and a couple of attempts on goal. The best chance from a cross into a header that went close.
35′ Min Japan are all over this game at the moment. They need just a sniff of the ball and it’s turned over by Croatia. Their passing magnificent, they just can’t get that final piece of quality to break through for a goal. Problem is that experience and quality is in abundance for Croatia who are likely to get one chance and take it to break the Japanese hearts.
40′ Min As if to double down on the above, Japan steal the ball in great position and try and push through the Croatia box to score but some nice passing which produces half chance comes to nothing again.
42′ Min GOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL FOR JAPAN
And finally it arrives, a goal to Japan and deservedly so. From a corner a cross is fired into the six yard box by Ritsu Dōan and after Croatia can’t clear it away, Celtic’s Daizen Maeda’s has a shot in traffic and his sharp finish is too good for the Croatian keeper. There’s a hint at an offside in among the action, but after a quick check VAR decides not to ruin the party. Deserved goal for Maeda too, who has been hassling the Croatians throughout the first half.
JAPAN 1 CROATIA 0
45′ +2 Min Croatia have one last chance to score themselves before the break via a corner but fall short. Japan take a 1-0 lead they thoroughly deserve into the break. Can they hold in? Well they sure did v no less than Germany and Spain after hitting the front in those two group stage games.
HALF TIME – JAPAN 1 CROATIA 0
50′ Min A bright enough opening to the second half to go along with the first half. Both sides threatening the goal. This is going to be a fun half of football.
55′ Min GOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLL FOR CROATIA
Decent goal too. The cross for Croatia comes from out wide on the left from Lovren into the edge of the penalty box, and Ivan Perisic absolutely nails the header to the bottom right of the goal from a long way out. Quality from Perisic.
JAPAN 1 CROATIA 1
57′ Min Not long after the Croatia goal Japan almost add another when Wataru Endo’s curling, dippimg shot nearly surprises the Croatian keeper who does well to save. Down the other end Croatia waste a good chance too. Then Japan miss out again at the other end. It almost being played at a Wimbledon style pace.
62′ Min Croatia go close again and what a shot it is from Luka Modric. On the edge of the penalty area Modric’s shot curves and dips suddenly and is really well saved by the Japanese keeper.
66′ Min Another good chance for Croatia who have now set up a base camp deep inside the Japanese penalty area. This time it is a header from Ante Budimir which goes just wide. Japan are going to do well to hang on here.
76′ Min Ivan Perisic goes close with an attacking raid down the left and a shot that is deflected for a corner kick. From the corner Croatia almost get another chance but not for a great clearance under pressure from Ritsu Doan.
79′ Min Now it’s Japan’s turn to go close. The resulting scramble from a free kick sees Takehiro Tomiyasu in some space in the box, but he crosses instead of shooting. Extra time is looming for this game, and another 30 minutes of it isn’t a bad thing.
86′ Min Another half chance for Croatia but the headers isn’t on target and goes well wide. Fine cross from Ivan Perisic of course,
90′ Min Four minutes of added time to come, so looks like there will be extra time coming.
FULL TIME – JAPAN 1 CROATIA 1
Extra Time Kicks Off….
92′ Min First chance of extra time goes to Japan with a corner. And near post header goes well wide.
97′ Min Luka Modric is replaced, and we wonder what impact that will have on the game with his experience. Especially if a shootout is the end result.
101′ Min In a game where all of the action is on pitch, an amusing moment off it as the Japanese bench players and a Croatian player getting ready to throw-in argue over a couple of metres.
104′ Min What a run, and almost a great goal from Kaoru Mitoma who picks up the ball ten metres inside his own area and drives all the way into the Croatia penalty area where his shot stings the hands of the Croatian keeper.
EXTRA TIME HT JAPAN 1 CROATIA 1
110′ Min Corner for Croatia. A swinging cross is well cleared by the Japanese keeper to avert the immediate danger.
120′ Min Despite the best efforts of the teams, and they were best, they can’t be separated and we have our first penalty shootout.
EXTRA TIME FT JAPAN 1 CROATIA 1
PENALTY SHOOTOUT
Japan Pen 1 – MISS – Takumi Minamino’s shot to the right is poor and well saved.
0-0
Croatia Pen 1 – GOAL – Nikola Vlasic smashes the ball and it goes in. Simples.
Croatia 1-0
Japan Pen 2 – MISS – Trouble brewing as Kaoru Mitoma goes left for no success. Decent save.
Croatia 1-0
Croatia Pen 2 – GOAL –Marcelo Brozovic eases it past the Japan keeper for a 2-0 lead. This will be hard to beat from here.
Croatia 2-0
Japan Pen 3 – GOAL – Takuma Asano sends the keeper the wrong way and Japan are on the board.
Croatia 2-1
Croatia Pen 3 – MISS – A casual Marko Livaja gets punished and his penalty is saved.
Croatia 2-1
Japan Pen 4 – MISS – Another casual penalty from Maya Yoshida and another one saved. Japan are on the verge of exit with one more Croatia goal. Croatian keeper Dominik Livakovic is the hero right now.
Croatia 2-1
Croatia Pen 4 – GOAL – Mario Pasalic scores and Croatia are into the Quarter Finals
Croatia 3-1
Final Score
JAPAN 1
Daizen Maeda 42′
CROATIA 1
Ivan Perisic 55′
HT Japan 1-0
FT 1-1
AET 1-1
After Penalties Croatia win 3-1
Player of the Match
Ivan Perisic or Dominik Livakovic or Ritsu Doan or Junya Ito
Round of 16 Japan v Croatia Match Stats
Round of 16 Japan v Croatia Starting Teams
JAPAN (3-4-3)
12 Gonda
16 Tomiyasu
22 Yoshida
3 Taniguchi
14 Ito
6 Endo
13 Morita
5 Nagatomo
8 Doan
25 Maeda
15 Kamada
TEAM (4-3-3)
1 Livakovic
22 Juranovic
6 Lovren
20 Gvardiol
3 Barisic
10 Modric
11 Brozovic
8Kovacic
9Kramaric
16Petkovic
4Perisic
