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The 2018 FIFA World Cup continued on Sunday, July 1 evening with Croatia overcoming a better Denmark on penalties at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium.
The match kicked-off spectacularly with two goals within four minutes. First the underdogs from Denmark went ahead in the 2nd minute when a Jonas Knudsen long throw-in via Delaney reached Mathias Jörgensen, whose shot went in via a deflection of keeper Danijel Subasic.
But Croatia hit back in the 4th minute, when a cross Vrsaljko came in, Dalsgaard wanted to clear but only hit Christensen and it fell perfectly for Mandzukic, who scored to equalise for his first goal of the tournament.
The match lost in pace after the initial flurry, but both their teams had their chances to go ahead but the first half ended 1-1.
The second session lost even more pace as Croatia was nowhere near their best as Denmark defended deep but they also some half chances and despite that the match ended 1-1 after 90 minutes, that meant extra-time.
Denmark continued to be the better side in extra-time but Croatia were given a golden opportunity to win the game in the 116th minute as Mathias Jörgensen brought down Ante Rebic in the are, but Loca Modric’s penalty was saved by keeper Kasper Schmeichel.
Denmark looked like they were going with a psychological advantage into the shootout, but there both keepers, Subasic and Schmeichel made some brilliant saves, two each after the fourth penalty. Then Subasic saved that of Nicolas Jörgensen, while Ivan Rakitic scored against Schmeichel to give Croatia a 3-2 win and progress into the quarterfinals.
FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 – Pre-Quarterfinal
Croatia 3-2-1-1 (1-1) Denmark [on penalties]
Goals: 0-1 Mathias Jörgensen (1′), 1-1 Mario Mandzukic (4′)
Penalties: 0-0 Eriksen (saved), 0-0 Badelj (saved), 0-1 Kjaer, 1-1 Kramaric, 1-2 Krohn-Dehli, 2-2 Modric, 2-2 Schöne (saved), 2-2 Pivaric (saved), 2-2 N. Jörgensen (saved), 3-2 Rakitic
Croatia: Subasic – Vrsaljko, Lovren, Vida, Strinic (81′ Pivaric) – Rakitic, Brozovic (71′ Kovacic) – Modric – Rebic, Perisic (97′ Kramaric) – Mandzukic (108′ Badelj)
Subs: L. Kalinic, Livakovic, Caleta-Car, Corluka, Jedvaj, Bradaric, Pjaca
Denmark: Schmeichel – Dalsgaard, Kjaer, M. Jörgensen, Knudsen – A. Christensen (46′ Schöne), Delaney (98′ Krohn-Dehli) – Eriksen – Y. Poulsen, Braithwaite (106′ Sisto) – Cornelius (66′ N. Jörgensen)
Subs: Lössl, Rönnow, Stryger Larsen, Vestergaard, Kvist, Lerager, Dolberg, Fischer
Referee: Nestor Pitana (Argentina)
Man of the Match: Kasper Schmeichel (Denmark)
