After a thrilling last-eight match ended 1-1 at the conclusion of extra time, Croatia shocked Brazil to win 4-2 on penalties and advance to the football World Cup semifinals on Friday.
When Marquinhos had to score to keep Brazil in the game after Rodrygo’s earlier attempt had been stopped by Croatia’s goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic, he missed the critical penalty and hit the post.
It was a spectacular turnaround after Brazil appeared to be heading for victory when Neymar scored the game’s first goal halfway through extra time to tie Pele’s Brazilian record of 77 goals in international games.
However, Bruno Petkovic responded at the opposite end for Croatia in the 117th minute to force a shootout. Zlatko Dalic’s squad then backed up their victory over Japan on penalties in the previous round with this triumph, which must go down as their greatest-ever success.
Croatia make it to the semifinals, but Brazil will have to hold out until at least another four years before claiming a record-extending sixth title.
At the conclusion of the first period of extra time, Neymar, who later left the field in tears, gave Brazil the lead after exchanging passes with Lucas Paqueta and Rodrygo and then beating goalkeeper Livakovic to score.
However, Croatia’s fight remained unbroken, as the football World Cup finalists of 2018 came back to tie the game.
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Argentina Beats Netherlands In Penalty Shootout To Reach Semi-Final
On the other hand, Argentina defeated the Netherlands 4-3 on penalties after a thrilling 2-2 extra-time draw in a World Cup quarterfinal classic to advance to the semifinals against Croatia.
After Argentina blew a two-goal advantage that Lionel Messi helped create in the closing minutes of the game, goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez emerged as the winner for the South Americans in the penalty shootout.
As the Netherlands rallied with seven minutes left in regular time to force overtime, substitute Wout Weghorst of the Netherlands scored two late goals, the second goal came from an innovative free-kick in stoppage time.
After Messi produced a brilliant assist for Nahuel Molina and a precise goal from the penalty spot, Argentina appeared to be headed for the round of four.
Since 1992, the Dutch have now lost six of their previous eight shootouts in major championships, which was a very disappointing finale to their campaign for them.
