Underdogs Croatia thrash Brazil on penalties in FIFA World Cup 2022, becomes first team to reach semifinals

Croatia thrashed Brazil in the first quarterfinal match of the FIFA World Cup 2022 on Friday. The underdogs shattered Brazil’s dream to reach the World Cup semifinal for the ninth time after defeating them on penalties 4-2.

In even 90 minutes of regulation play, both the teams failed to score a single goal and an extra time of 30 minutes was added. At the end of the 120 minutes of football plus injury time, there was no result with some missed chances to score goal. The tournament finally witnessed this edition’s second shootout for Croatia. In their first shootout, Croatia defeated Japan 3-1 on penalties.

Penalty shootout by Croatia:

• 1st: Nikola Vlasic scored penalty
• 2nd: Lovro Majer scored penalty
• 3rd: Luka Modric scored penalty
• 4th: Mislav Orsic scored penalty

Penalty shootout by Brazil:

• 1st: Rodrygo missed penalty
• 2nd: Casemiro scored penalty
• 3rd: Pedro scored penalty
• 4th: Marquinhos missed penalty

Team Croatia has 100 per cent result when it comes to penalty shootout at the FIFA World Cup. They have won each of their four penalty shootouts so far. Seven of Croatia’s last eight knockout stage matches in the World Cup and the Euro have gone to extra time. In fact, they’ve advanced from all four such games at the World Cup and three of them were won via a penalty shootout.

Interestingly, before this match, Team Croatia had suffered a loss in four of its five World Cup games against South American sides. The only time that they won was against Argentina (3-0) in 2018. Two of those four defeats have been against Brazil in the years 2006 and 2014. On the other hand, Brazil had won all the previous five World Cup knockout stage games against European nations. 

Brazil vs Croatia Head-To-Head:

• Matches won by Brazil – 3
• Matches won by Croatia – 1
• Matches ended in a draw – 1

Let’s look at their journeys to the quarterfinals:

Croatia’s road to Semifinals –

• Match 1: Croatia vs Morocco – Draw (1-1)
• Match 2: Croatia vs Canada – Winner (4-1)
• Match 3: Croatia vs Belgium – Draw (0-0)
• Round of 16: Croatia vs Japan – Winner on  penalties (3-1)
• Quarterfinals: Croatia vs Brazil – Winner on penalties (4-2)

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