Croatia made a huge turnaround to beat Japan 3-1 in the penalty shootout in the Round of 16 fixture and with the win they entered the Quarterfinals in the ongoing FIFA World Cup at the Al Janoub Stadium in Qatar.
Croatia wins the contest in the penalty shootout
Both Japan and Croatia squandered a few early opportunities to score. But, just minutes before the half-time whistle, Daizen Maeda opened the scoring for Japan from a well-worked corner kick.
In the 55th minute, Croatia scored the equalizer. The goal was completely against the run of play. Lovren gets forward and swings one in from the right, Perisic jumped and hammered in a header to the bottom right.
In the penalty shootout, Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic made three saves while Mario Pasalic kept his calm to turn in the decisive penalty that ensured Croatia’s spot in the quarter-finals.
