The Croatian national team returned the Russian game

Croatia topped the Group F table ahead of the final round thanks to a 4-1 victory over the Canadians despite a quick goal conceded. However, she is by no means guaranteed a ticket to the playoffs. It will have to be obtained in the most difficult match with the Belgians.

In this match, a bucket of ice water immediately poured onto the Croats in the midst of the Qatari heat. The Canadians, following the results of the starting round, could consider themselves the most unlucky team in the championship. They played very nicely against the Belgians, inflicted so many shots on their goal that would be enough for half a dozen matches, they could well, like the Moroccans yesterday, defeat the grandee, but they didn’t grow together with a goal – even the earned penalty kick didn’t help. But it grew together with him a minute after the start of their next meeting.

It was a classic attack of the current version of the Canadian team. No long draws. The ball from the goalkeeper through a couple of passes in a couple of seconds is delivered to the right flank, where, like a relay runner, setting off for his hundred-meter stretch, Teijon Buchanan is already breaking off the blocks. And in the center, parallel to it, another “lightning” rushes – Alphonso Davis. Buchanan can only hang a partner on his head, and Davis, who blundered from the penalty spot in the match with the Belgians, will still be the first Canadian football player who managed to distinguish himself in the main tournament. Canadians rejoiced, hugged, still, of course, not realizing that sometimes a cold shower helps those who took it in the morning.

The Croats spent their entire previous match against the Moroccans in the same unhurried, flare-free mode, as if showing that we know that we are no longer as young as during the “silver” take-off in Russia in 2018, and we will have energy take care of it, because the campaign will be long, and forces will still be needed. In this mode, the Croatian national team, apparently, was going to play with the Canadians. The missed goal forced her to abandon the strategy, threatening, as it turned out, a tournament disaster. And suddenly the Croatian team appeared on the field, which four years ago so successfully combined academicism with passion.

Luka Modric got a little angry. Mateo Kovacic moved. Ivan Perisic finally preferred sharpness to neatness. And the Canadians suddenly discovered that they were giving away not only the middle of the field, but also their favorite flanks, because, for example, the connections of Borna Sosa are becoming more and more dangerous.

And now Andrey Kramaric, escaping from the trap set for him in the penalty area, sends the ball into the Canadian goal. Happy, he ran to the touchline for congratulations when he realized that he would not be counted: this Croatian attack was spoiled by a barely noticeable offside. But another striker of the Croatian national team, Marko Livaya, having received an amazingly timing pass from Kovacic, does not score just because goalkeeper Milan Boryan chose an exceptionally correct position.

But the specter of future Croatian success took on more and more clear outlines every minute. And it materialized when Perisic found Kramaric on the corner of the goalkeeper’s area, and he put the ball in the corner, again setting off for the triumph race, just in case, however, cautiously looking back: are they canceling this goal too? No, everything was fine.

The Canadian team urgently needed a break, some kind of restructuring, because its tricks with an opponent who had added density no longer worked. The class beat the speed. But before the break, the Croats managed to sting the Canadians again. Now they were confused by Josip Yuranovich’s raid from the left edge to the center, after which Livaya got the opportunity to shoot Boryan from two dozen meters. The attacker did not disappoint.

Waiting for a pause, correcting the composition of the Canadian team in the second half returned toothiness. But not for long – about ten minutes. It was impossible to break the Croatian national team in this game with their tricks. The Croats, having suffered a little, again began to choke the Canadians with their passes and seemingly not so swift, but too subtle, too in time movements. And Kramaric was still hot and, having gently processed a long transfer from Perisic, he slowly improved his position in the penalty area and sent another ball into the Canadian goal.

The last resounding event of the match was a nightmarish failure of the Canadians in stoppage time. Misla Orsic and Lovro Mayer together went to the unfortunate Boryan, and Mayer set the final and so insulting score for the Canadian team.

This match deprived the Canadians of hopes for the playoffs, and allowed the Croats to catch up with the Moroccans in terms of points scored: these teams have four of them. But the Moroccan team seems to have an easier task in the final round. She, in order to reach the 1/8 finals, needs not to lose to the Canadians. The Croats, on the other hand, are waiting for a match with the Belgians, who are lagging behind them by a point and in need of a victory. And a defeat in it will certainly throw the Croatian team out of the Qatari championship.

Alexey Dospekhov