Croatia have done it again! The 2018 World Cup runners-up have made their way to the World Cup quarter-finals after beating Japan 4-2 in the penalty shootout on Monday night.The hero of the day is their keeper Domagoj Livakovic, who put a stop to not one, not two, but three of Japan’s penalties for another massive success of this tiny country in Southeastern Europe.It was 1-1 after 120 minutes of football, and it seemed both sides were looking for a final battle from the spot, but the charming underdogs were dreadful and deservedly lost to Luka Modric and his teammates.Despite this WC exit, the Japanese team have all the reasons to feel pride for their Qatari performances, as they managed to defeat two former world champions and to draw against the current runners-up.Unlike the ties with Spain and Germany, the Asians were anything but passive and deep in their own half. Instead, they opted for more possession, thus trying to score through crosses from both flanks but were a few inches short on a couple of occasions that could have ended differently. Still, they got their eight-finals appearance in a perfect direction near half-time, as Maeda sunk it low following the set-pieces for a deserved euphoria.It didn’t last for long, though, as Tottenham’s star Ivan Perisic buried a tremendous header ten minutes into the second half for 1-1.Once the match was brought back to a stalemate, both teams started with a more careful approach. The Croats were the ones who pushed for the late winner, and Real Madrid’s playmaker Luka Modric launched a daring mid-range effort that would have gone straight under the crossbar if it wasn’t for brilliant custodian Gonda.From that moment on, today’s rivals concentrated almost entirely on upcoming extra-time, sitting back and waiting for the time to expire..Takehiro Tomiyasu rallying his Japan team-mates for extra-time against Croatia. 🗣🇯🇵 #afc pic.twitter.com/Of7HvLbIyh— afcstuff (@afcstuff) December 5, 2022 And that lullaby kept going even after the final whistle before Mitoma woke up the entire stadium with his jaw-dropping solo run and shot near the end of the first extra-time that Livakovic somehow denied.Those dying minutes of the game turned into an all-Japan domination as the Far East side controlled the ball and had some shy attempts to nail a last-gasp shocker.However, Lovro Majer – who came in for Croatia replacing tired Modric – was the one with the best chance and missed it completely from the edge of the box, sending the match into a penalty shootout.##EDITORS_CHOICE##Minamino was the first to take and Livakovic had no problem in saving it. Vlasic put Croatia in front, while Mitoma joined Minamino in this horrible streak. Brozovic placed it smoothly behind Gonda, and then Asano finally netted Japan’s first one. The Croats missed the next one, but Joshida did too, and it was obvious the game was reaching the end. Pasalic was accurate and the 2018 runners-up are going to the 1/4 finals of the Qatari tournament.QATAR 2022 WORLD CUP ROUND OF 16SaturdayNetherlands – USA 3-1 (2-0)/Depay 10, Blind 45+1, Dumfries 81 – Wright 76/Argentina – Australia 2-1 (1-0)/Messi 35, Alvarez 57 – Martinez 77 og/SundayFrance – Poland 3-1 (1-0)/Giroud 44, Mbappe 74, 90+1 – Lewandowski 90+7 pen/England – Senegal 3-0 (2-0)/Henderson 38, Kane 45+3, Saka 57/MondayJapan – Croatia 2-4 pen (1-1)/Maeda 43 – Perisic 55/22:00: (1.30) Brazil (5.80) S.Korea (12.0)Tuesday18:00: (7.25) Morocco (3.70) Spain (1.62)22:00: (2.00) Portugal (3.40) Switzerland (4.30)***odds are subject to change
