Croatia captain Luka Modric praised his team’s character after another dramatic penalty shootout victory in this year’s FIFA World Cup in Russia.
Croatia beat hosts Russia 4-3 via penalties to reach the semis, where they will take on England in Saint Petersburg on Wednesday.
This was the second time Croatia have won a match in this year’s World Cup via penalty shootout. In the round of 16, they beat Denmark 3-2 to march into the quarters. That day Danijel Subasic pulled off three saves to deny the Danish boys a place into the last eight. On Saturday, he pulled off one during the shootout and numerous important saves with a hamstring injury in another heroic performance.
And, captain Modric was all praise for the character shown by his boys in Sochi.
“Another drama for us. We didn’t play well in the first half, we didn’t control the game as we wanted. From the start of the second half we played much better, but unfortunately we couldn’t finish the game. We showed the character again,” said Modric.