Relive Croatia’s journey to World Cup finals
VOV.VN - Croatia are through to the World Cup final for the first time in their history after defeating England 2-1 in the semi-finals.
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| The Croatia team boasts stars who play for some of Europe’s top clubs, including Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic and Mario Mandzukic. |
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| Croatia were seen as a dark horse for the 2018 World Cup trophy. |
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| In the group stage, Croatia were in group D with Iceland and the might of Argentina and Nigeria. |
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| Croatia took a 2-0 win over Nigeria in their first match. |
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| The win helps Zlatko Dalic’s Croatia squad rise to the top of Group D with 3 points after Argentina drew 1-1 with Iceland. |
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| Croatia surprised spectators when they came up against Lionel Messi, the best player in history, and his Argentina team by soundly thrashing them 3-0. |
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| Croatia continued their good run with a 2-1 victory over Iceland in their third match. They topped Group D and got through to the last 16. |
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| In the last 16, Croatia met Denmark. The match was a struggle for Croatia, drawing 2-2 in extra-time. |
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| Croatia then beat Denmark on penalties. The final score was 5-4 to Croatia. They won their place in the quarter-finals, against the hosts, Russia. |
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| In the quarter-finals, Croatia went 1-0 to Russia in the 31st minute. Eight minutes later, Andrej Kramaric equalised for Croatia to make it 1-1. |
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| Another 120-minute match ends 2-2, forcing them to play a penalty shoot-out. |
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| Croatia beat Russia 4-3 on penalties to progress to the semi-finals of the World Cup. |
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| Many thought Croatia a weaker team than England in the semi-finals. In the 5th minute, England’s Kieran Trippier opened the scoring with a stunning free-kick. The first half ended 1-0 in favour of England. |
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| Ivan Perisic equalized for Croatia in the 68th minute, which is how it stayed until the end of the 90 minutes. In extra time, Mario Mandzukic grabbed an all important goal to make it 2-1 for Croatia against England. |
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| With their historical win, Croatia have won a place in the finals and a chance to get their hands on the golden trophy for the first time ever. |
