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FIFA World Cup 2018 semifinals: Croatia sends England home, 2-1
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July 13, 2018
Original URL: https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Cup_2018_semifinals:_Croatia_sends_England_home,_2-1
On Wednesday, Croatia defeated England 2 -- 1 in the semi-final of the
2018 FIFA Football World Cup with Mario Mandžukić scoring the winning
goal in the additional time. With this victory, Croatia is in their
first-ever FIFA World Cup finals, and they are to face France on Sunday.
Croatia had greater ball possession in the match. Croatian midfielder
Luka Modrić committed a foul early in the game, and Dele Alli won a
freekick for England in the 4th minute. Kieran Trippier scored from the
freekick, giving England an early lead in the match. In the 14th minute,
Harry Maguire came close to doubling the lead for England, but missed.
Ivan Perišić and Ante Rebić tried to equalise soon after, but were
unsuccessful. In the 30th minute, English striker Harry Kane was caught
offside from Jesse Lingard's through ball. Raheem Sterling and Šime
Vrsaljko also tried their luck before the end of the first half. The
first half ended with England having a one-goal advantage.
Just three minutes into the second half, Croatia's forward Mario
Mandžukić was yellow-carded. In the 54th minute, English defender Kyle
Walker was also booked. Just after the one-hour mark, Ivan Rakitić
missed a chance to level for Croatia. In the 68th minute, Croatia got
the equalising goal as Perišić scored from Šime Vrsaljko's assist.
England made a substitution in the 74th minute when Marcus Rashford came
on for Sterling. The second half ended with both sides tied, 1 -- 1.
At the beginning of the additional time, England made another change;
Ashley Young was taken off for Danny Rose. Ivan Strinić was injured and
Croatia made a substitution in the 95th minute, replacing him with Josip
Pivarić. The referee booked Rebić in the 96th minute and he was later
replaced by Andrej Kramarić in the 101st minute. Mario Mandžukić came
to Croatia's rescue in the 109th minute, scoring from close range from
Perišić's assist, which Jordan Pickford could not prevent from going
to the back of the English net. Jamie Vardy came on for Walker in the
112th minute. Mandžukić injured himself and Vedran Ćorluka came on
for him in the 115th minute. Croatia prevented England from getting an
equaliser as the match ended 2 -- 1 and Croatia advanced to their first
ever FIFA football World Cup final.
After the match, England's coach Gareth Southgate said, "At the moment
we all feel the pain of defeat. I don't think realistically we expected
to be here, but once you're here and played as well as we did, you want
to take those opportunities in life. The dressing room is a difficult
place at the moment." He also added, saying, "You have to suffer the
result first sometimes. I'm hugely proud of what we've done -- I
couldn't have asked for any more. They've broken through a number of
barriers in the past weeks."
Croatian coach Zlatko Dalić said, "Nobody wanted to give in when I was
preparing the first eleven, nobody wanted to say I was not ready in
extra time, no one wanted to be subbed and this shows character and what
makes me proud. Nobody gave up."
Croatia is to play France on Sunday in Moscow for the World Cup title.
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)
|team2 = England
|report = 1 -- 1 (FT)
|goals1 = Ivan Perišić
Mario Mandžukić
Mario Mandžukić
Ante Rebić
Ivan Strinić
Josip Pivarić
Ante Rebić
Andrej Kramarić
Mario Mandžukić
Vedran Ćorluka
Luka
Modrić
Milan Badelj
|goals2 = Kieran Trippier
Kyle Walker
Raheem Sterling
Marcus Rashford
Ashley Young
Danny Rose
Jordan Henderson
Eric Dier
Kyle Walker
Jamie Vardy
|stadium = Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, Russia
|attendance = 78,011
|referee = Cüneyt Çakir (Turkey)
}}
== Sources ==
* https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/match/300331522/#match-liveblog
* https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/44706648
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi_2GELMwfY
|pub = You Tube
|date = June 11, 2018
}}
.