According to Tasnim news agency, the Croatian national team lined up against Japan in the round of 16 of the 2022 Qatar World Cup starting at 18:30 today (Monday – Iran time) at Al-Janoob Stadium. And the two overtimes ended with Croatia winning 4-2 (3-1 in penalty kicks).
Blue Samurai scored in the final minutes of the first half and Daisen Maeda scored in the 43rd minute to give Japan the lead. Croats came back to the game in the second half and Ivan Prišić scored the equalizer in the 55th minute.
The efforts of the two teams until the end of the legal time and then overtime did not result, so the penalty kicks decided the winner of this match. This was the first overtime and penalty kicks of the 22nd Cup.
Nikola Vlasic, Marcelo Brozovic and Mario Pasalic scored for Croatia in the penalty shootout, with 2018 World Cup runners-up Marko Livaja missing a penalty. Takuma Asano was the only player from Japan to convert his penalty and Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic saved three Japanese penalties from Takumi Minamino, Kaoru Mitmuma and Maya Yoshida to send the Croatians into the final eight of the cup.
Japan, by topping the group that included Germany and Spain, reached the round of 16 and got one of the best results in its history in this year’s World Cup.
In this way, Croatia will face the winner of the Brazil-South Korea match in the quarter-finals of the Qatar World Cup starting at 18:30 on Friday, December 18.