What I had witnessed the other night in Group E was simply electric.
A night where Japan managed a second jaw-dropping World Cup 2022 shock in little over a week (adding to the toppling of Germany) with two goals in three minutes and a disciplined showing to see off Spain – the winner scored by the very finest of margins.
My word, how they needed to be disciplined too. For with 17.7% of the ball, they won a World Cup game with the lowest possession figure in recorded World Cup history.
For Japan it was a landmark achievement, not so much for the fact of qualifying – it is their third round of 16 in the last four World Cups – but for the manner with which they did it: a narrow defeat by Costa Rica sandwiched by victories over two European powerhouses, the world champions of 2010 and 2014.
The players remained on the pitch for a long period after the stands of the Khalifa International Stadium had begun to empty, soaking up the moment with ebullient travelling fans and a crowd of photographers.
The question now was could they do it again?
Highlights of the game
After such herculean efforts, it was hard not to feel they deserved a slightly lesser test at this stage than the 2018 finalists Croatia, arguably past their peak but with the same midfield core and, in Luka Modric, the 37 year-old captain still fully deserving of his undoubted status as the team’s leader, its biggest star.
So could they reach the quarter-final for the first time ever and become only the third Asian nation to reach the last eight after North Korea (1966) and South Korea (2002).
Japan were out to erase painful memories, the Samurai Blue reaching the last 16 of a World Cup three times previously and each time tasting defeat.
They started well and were on top when their latest set of World Cup highlights arrived two minutes before half-time, Daizen Maeda converting a Maya Yoshida knock down to fire them into a deserving lead.
When Croatia levelled early in the second half it was against the run of play but showed the talent of Ivan Perisic as his bullet header from Dejan Lovren’s cross confirmed him as his country’s all-time leading scorer at major tournaments with 10 goals.
That was how it stayed as neither side could find a breakthrough in normal time, or during a tense period of extra,-time so we were left with the first penalty shoot-out of the tournament.
That is when the SBOTOP World Cup betting odds become a lottery and so it proved as Japan proved less impressive from 12 yards as they had been in all other departments.
For Croatia, goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic was the hero, saving three penalties as they sealed a 3-1 triumph on spot-kicks.
In fairness to him, many of the penalties were poor but Livakovic was still the hero as he kept out the first two efforts before stopping Yoshida’s kick, allowing Mario Pasalic to convert the next penalty to take his side through.
Perhaps we should not have been surprised.
Croatia have now drawn six of their past seven tournament knockout games, including three 1-1 draws at Russia 2018, where they remarkably reached the final.
It’s another quarter-final for Croatia and a fond farewell to Japan, arguably the team of the tournament to this point.
Zlatko Dalic’s men will now meet Brazil in Friday afternoon’s first quarter-final.
The Selecao welcomed back Neymar and defender Danilo into their starting line-up.
Although they suffered a blow over the weekend with Alex Telles and forward Gabriel Jesus ruled out for the remainder of the tournament, Brazil were still big favourites and so it proved
In fact, the contest against South Korea was all but over by the quarter of an hour mark.
Pre-match we had wondered how much energy they had left after a last-gasp success against Portugal sealed their qualification.
That was evident when tallisman Son Heung-Min embarked on lung-bursting run to set up the winning goal, typical of his determination and skill, and the passion that courses through the veins of the group he leads.
On this occasion, however, we never got to see what Korea may have been made of as they effectively froze on the big stage from the start.
First, Raphinha showed dancing feet on the right before pulling the ball to Vinicius Jr whose touch, despite being surrounded by five South Koreans, was an expert one as he curled the ball into the goal.
No sooner had Korea got used to being behind then they were further adrift as a split second late tackle caught Richarlison’s foot and Neymar, who netted a brace in his last outing against South Korea, despatched the resulting penalty.
Just before the half hour, Richarlison slotted a third goal past Kim Seung-gyu and them, just seven minutes later, a wonderful team move was concluded as Vinicius lifted a ball to Lucas Paqueta whose volley made it four.
Brazil were cruising and, while South Korea scored arguably the goal of the night with a stunning 30-yard strike from Paik Seung-ho 14 minutes from time, the contest would have been stopped long before had it been a boxing bout.
Key statistics
Croatia are unbeaten in 10 of their last 11 World Cup matches.
Livakovic is the first goalkeeper to save the first two penalties in a World Cup shootout. He is also the third keeper to make three saves in a single World Cup penalty shootout after Portugal’s Ricardo in 2006 (versus England) and Croatia’s Danijel Subasic in 2018 (versus Denmark).
Richarlison has scored 10 goals in his nine appearances for Brazil in all competitions in 2022, netting at least four goals more than any other player for the country this calendar year.
Neymar has been involved in 15 goals in his last 11 appearances for Brazil in all competitions (eight goals, seven assists), with each of his last six goals for the national side coming from the penalty spot.
Brazil have won their last five matches against South Korea in all competitions who themselves had never defeated a South American opponent in seven attempts at the World Cup.
Brazil have progressed from each of their last eight second-round matches at the World Cup. They were last eliminated at this stage in 1990 against Argentina.
What’s next?
It’s Brazil v Croatia in the quarter-final in the Education City Stadium on Friday afternoon (December 9).
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