Croatia overcame a spirited Canada to register an impressive 4-1 victory, sending themselves top of Group F and eliminating Canada from the FIFA World Cup.
Alphonso Davies netted Canada’s first goal at a men’s World Cup but it was Croatia, spearheaded by a brace from Andrej Kramaric, who came away with an impressive 4-1 Group F win on Sunday that ended any hope of the North Americans advancing while keeping their own alive.
Bayern Munich star Davies barrelled into the box to plant a firm header past Dominik Livakovic following Tajon Buchanan’s teasing delivery from the right. Andrej Kramaric had the ball in the net after 26 minutes but the effort was ruled out due to creator Marko Livaja straying offside in the build-up. There was nothing wrong with Kramaric’s next strike, a crisp 36th-minute finish across goalkeeper Milan Borjan after Ivan Perisic’s reverse pass released the striker on the left of the penalty area.
Croatia completed the turnaround 60 seconds before half-time. Josip Juranovic burst forwards from right-back to feed Livaja, who prodded the ball out of his feet before firing into the bottom corner from 20 yards.
Canada substitute Jonathan Osorio shot narrowly wide shortly after half-time. But Croatia had gained almost complete control and deservedly stretched their lead when Kramaric controlled Perisic’s lovely floated pass from wide on the left to cut inside and curl beyond Brojan for his second goal. Lovro Majer came off the bench to complete the scoring deep into stoppage time following a slip from Canada defender Kamal Miller.
Alphonso Davies’s goal was the first scored by Canada at a World Cup. The Canadian team at Mexico 1986 drew blanks in all three group matches and the North Americans were beaten 1-0 by Belgium in their opening game of this tournament.
Player of the Match:Andrej Kramaric
Bengali