By Anna Italia
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Italian Soccer Serie A

% Ball Possession JAPAN and % Ball Possession CROATIA
  Japan 1 (2) – (4) 1 Croatia   
43′ Daizen Maeda                               55′ Ivan Perišić
.                                                   1 – 3
❌ T. Minamino                                  ⚽️  N. Vlasic
❌ K. Mitoma                                      ⚽️  M. Brozovic
⚽️ T. Asano                                         ❌ M. Livaja
❌ M. Yoshida                                    ⚽️  M. Pasalic

🏆👉 Croatia with a thriller ending won the FIFA World Cup Round of 16 defeating Japan on penalty shootouts on Monday 5 December 2022 at the Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah, Qatar. The absolute hero is Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livaković saving three penalties denying Japanese players to shout a goal. Croatia beat Japan 4-2 on penalties (the result was 1-1 in regular time) and reached the quarter-finals to face the winner between Brazil and South Korea. Croatia qualified for the last 16 of the World Cup for the third time and have always progressed from the previous two occasions, beating Romania 1-0 in 1998 and Denmark on penalties in 2018.

The game is extended to extra time after the 1-1 draw in regular time.

•  Italian Serie A players called up in this game

🇭🇷 Croatia:  Martin Erlic (Sassuolo)
Marcelo Brozović (Inter)
Mario Pašalić (Atalanta)
Nikola Vlašić (Torino)

🇯🇵 Japan:  None

Japan opened the score in the 43rd minute. Daizen Maeda defeated Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic with a left-footed shot to the center following a corner conceded by Marcelo Brozovic.

🏆👉 🇯🇵 Japan 1 – 0 Croatia 🇭🇷, 43rd minute, ⚽️ goal by Daizen Maeda for Japan with a left-footed shot to the center following a corner conceded by Marcelo Brozovic. https://t.co/vV6UonTzPD

— Anna Italia (@ItalianSerieA) December 5, 2022

Croatia equalized for the 1-1 in the 55th minute. Ivan Perišić defeated Japan goalkeeper with a headed shot to the bottom right corner. The assist is by Dejan Lovren.

🏆👉 🇯🇵 Japan 1 – 1 Croatia 🇭🇷, 55th minute, ⚽️ goal by Ivan Perisic for @HNS_CFF with a headed shot to the bottom right corner. The assist is by Dejan Lovren. #japcro #FIFAWorldCup https://t.co/sI99LWEdeu

— Anna Italia (@ItalianSerieA) December 5, 2022

Photo via twitter.com/fifaworldcup

A standing ovation for legendary Luka Modrić when leaving the pitch in the 99th minute replaced by Lovro Majer.

Modrić receives an ovation from the crowd as he comes off in extra time 🇭🇷 pic.twitter.com/dWVv3DKkwU

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) December 5, 2022

✅ Stats before the game. This will be Japan’s third World Cup meeting with Croatia, with the Asians having never won or scored in the previous two – 0-1 in 1998 and 0-0 in 2006, also in the group stage. Those were Croatia’s only two matches against an Asian selection in the World Cup. Japan won both matches against European selections at the 2022 World Cup, 2-1 against Spain and Germany in the group stage. Previously, they had only managed two wins in his first 10 World Cup ties against European sides (D3, L5). For the fourth time Japan has reached the round of 16 at the World Cup, including the last two in a row. However, they never went further, going out to Turkey in 2002, Paraguay on penalties in 2010 and Belgium in 2018. The only Asian national teams capable of reaching the quarter-finals at the World Cup were North Korea in the 1966 and South Korea in 2002. Croatia have lost just two of their eight knockout ties at the World Cup (W4 D2), while they have always progressed through on the last two occasions a draw has led to penalties, both times in 2018 (against Denmark in the round of 16 and then against Russia in the quarter-finals).

🏆👉 Lineup JAPAN (4-5-1): Gonda; Tomiyasu, Yoshida, Taniguchi, Nagatomo; Ito, Endo, Kamada, Morita, Doan; Maeda.

 👉Lineup CROATIA (4-3-3): Livakovic; Juranovic, Lovren, Gvardiol, Barisic; Modric, Brozovic, Kovacic; Kramaric, Petkovic, Perisic.

📺 Click the video to watch Japan 1 (2) – (4) 1 Croatia highlights on Monday 5 December 2022

Photo via twitter.com/fifaworldcup

Photo via twitter.com/HNS_CFF

Photo via twitter.com/HNS_CFF

🏆👉First half is over. 🇯🇵 Japan 1 – 0 Croatia 🇭🇷

⚽️ Goals: 43′ Daizen Maeda

🟨 Yellows: None

Corners: Japan 3, Croatia 1
Offsides: Japan 1, Croatia 0

✍ Ball Possession: 41% Japan and 59% @HNS_CFF

✅ https://t.co/1oiaeL5nzI@SerieASitdown @TheCalcioGuys @socios https://t.co/IszmHzsWmJ

— Anna Italia (@ItalianSerieA) December 5, 2022

🏆👉Result🇯🇵 Japan 1 (2) – (4) 1 Croatia 🇭🇷

⚽️ Goals: 43′ Daizen Maeda, 55′ Ivan Perišić (C)

🟨 Yellows: 90′ Mateo Kovacic (C), 116′ Borna Barisic (C)

✍ Ball Possession: 42% Japan and 58% @HNS_CFF

✅ https://t.co/1oiaeL5nzI@SerieASitdown @TheCalcioGuys @Inter_en https://t.co/DK4LJcvzZ2

— Anna Italia (@ItalianSerieA) December 5, 2022

Photo via twitter.com/fifaworldcup

FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022
Round of 16

🇯🇵 Japan 1 – 1 Croatia 🇭🇷
Monday 5 December 2022
Al Janoub Stadium
Al Wakrah, Qatar

18:00 (local time in Qatar)

Referee: Ismail Elfath (USA)
Assistant Referee 1: Corey Parker (USA)
Assistant Referee 2: Kyle Atkins (USA)
Fourth Official: Mustapha Ghorbal (ALG)
Reserve Assistant Referee:
Video Assistant Referee: Nicolas Gallo (COL)
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Julio Bascunan (CHI)
Offside Video Assistant Referee: Ezequiel Brailovsky (ARG)
Support Video Assistant Referee: Paolo Valeri (ITA)

Goals: 43′ Daizen Maeda (J), 55′ Ivan Perišićn(C)

Official lineups – formations – tabellino:

🏆👉 Lineup JAPAN (4-5-1): Gonda; Tomiyasu, Yoshida, Taniguchi, Nagatomo; Ito, Endo, Kamada, Morita, Doan; Maeda.

Head Coach: Moriyasu.

 👉Lineup CROATIA (4-3-3): Livakovic; Juranovic, Lovren, Gvardiol, Barisic; Modric, Brozovic, Kovacic; Kramaric, Petkovic, Perisic.

Head Coach.: Dalic.