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.
Into the last four.
Onwards to Moscow.
What a #WorldCup adventure for #Croatia.#FlamingPride #Family #Vatreni🔥 pic.twitter.com/We6kdviNxN— HNS (@HNS_CFF) July 7, 2018
Speaking about the semi-final, the Real Madrid midfielder said: “We are in the semi-finals, we will enjoy the game. We have enough time to rest and prepare well.”
He and the Croats however, will have to buck up if they want to reach their first-ever World Cup final. They will be up against a spirited England, who defeated a stout Swedish team without breaking a sweat earlier in the day in Samara.
Unlike Gareth Southgate’s team, who are on a roll in Russia despite a nerve-wrecking penalty shootout win against Colombia, the Croatians have managed to put themselves in a spot in both their knockout matches from winning situations.
On Saturday, Ivan Rakitic stroked home the winning penalty to send Croatia into a semis after Mario Fernandes dramatically equalised for Russia with five minutes of extra time remaining, only to miss a crucial kick in the shootout.
Both teams had also won on penalties in their second round matches, with Russia beating Spain, but the hosts’ marksmanship let them down this time.
Fyodor Smolov saw Russia’s first penalty saved by Danijel Subasic and, although Russia goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev saved a Mateo Kovacic kick, the hosts’ fate was sealed when Fernandes, turning from hero to villain, fired completely wide from their third attempt.
In the previous 120 minutes, Denis Cheryshev rifled Russia in front with a long-range thunderbolt, his fourth goal of the tournament, in the 31st minute before Andrej Kramaric headed Croatia level six minutes before halftime.
Croatia then went ahead with a soft Domagoj Vida header in the eleventh minute of extra time but Russia still managed to bounce back through Fernandes.