Spain Dumped Croatia.
What a game we had on our hands and it was a beautiful encounter between the two sides. The game lived up to its billing with lovely attacking efforts from the two sides.
Spain dominated the early exchanges but they were unable to get ahead. Ferran Torres had a chance early on when he nodded the ball to Koke but he missed as he failed to wrap his feet around the ball as it went behind him. Sarabia was lively, Morata played his part too and both exchanged passes but Sarabia's effort was wide in the 16th minute.
In the 16th minute, Koke wasted a golden chance when he shot straight at the goalkeeper despite a brilliant run and 3 minutes after Spain had a penalty shout after Ferran Torres' cross into the box got to Morata who nodded the ball and it struck the arm of Vida. The referee was having none of it as his hand was placed in a natural position.
A minute later, Pedri gave a backpass to the goalkeeper; Unai Simon which happened to be the first real action for the goalkeeper and his control let him down maybe due to lack of concentration and he picked the ball at the back of the net. Croatia went ahead most bizarrely possibly and that own goal sparked Croatia back to life as they were all over Spain.
Spain did everything to get back into the game with Kovacic having a shot but nothing came out of it but in the 38th minute, Sarabia drew Spain level with a lovely strike after the goalkeeper saved an initial shot.
To make up for his horror earlier, Unai Simon raced towards the ball to deny Rebic on the stroke of halftime to go level with Croatia on the break.
Spain came out fighting and it was Azpilicueta who gave Spain the lead for the first time in the game with a brilliant header. Unai Simon came to the rescue again to keep his side ahead when he saved Joško Gvardiol's point-blank effort. Morata also scored in the 72nd minute but it was correctly ruled for offside.
Spain finally got their third goal when Pau Torres found Ferran Torres with a lovely long pass. He had it all to do by himself and he managed to evade his marker to slot the ball into the back of the net.
The real drama of the game came in the 85th minute when Croatia had a goalmouth scramble and Orsic bundled the ball home. The ball crossed the line but goal-line technology on the referee watch didn't register the goal. The VAR reviewed it and the goal was correctly counted to bring the scoreline to 3-2 and give hope to Croatia. The drama continued in the 92nd minute when Croatia completed the comeback after the scorer of the second goal turned to the provider of the third. Orsic found substitute; Pasalic with a lovely ball and he headed the ball home to drag the game to 30minutes of Extra Time.
Croatia should have taken the lead in the 2nd minute of the extra time but he blazed his shot over the bar just right inside the box. Unai Simon made a double save from Pasalic and Kramaric 4 minutes later as well. Spain had a chance of theirs too when Alba cut-back pass to Olmo before Caleta slid in to block it but in the 10th minute, the villain of a penalty miss earlier in the tournament turned up to score what would be a spectacular goal. Olmo crossed the ball into the box and Morata expertly controlled it before smashing the ball into the back of the net to silence those who have criticized and abused him.
Spain completed the goal 4 minutes after the last one when Olmo assisted again when he found Oyarzabal. Even though the goalkeeper got a touch to his effort the ball was too strong for the goalkeeper to keep out. Morata had two other chances to add to his goal but he wasted both chances and Croatia almost got one back when Budimir missed just narrowly.
Spain should have made it 6 when Oyarzabal unselfishly passed the ball to Olmo in the box and Olmo's attempt came off the post instead. The game ended after extra time and it was Spain who heaped pain on Croatia despite their strong effort to end the game 5-3.
Spain got through to the Quarter Finals.
Thank you for your time.
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Great Match
This was quite a match blessed with lot of goals. The Croatians did well but it just wasn't their night. Congratulations to Spain. They should their mettle in the extra time.
Absolutely. It wasn't meant to be for Croatia and Spain deserved it.