fifa world cup 2022

Croatia beats Brazil on penalties to set up semifinal clash with Argentina

23 Comments
By TALES AZZONI

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23 Comments
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Brilliant game from the Croats. Nabbed the late equaliser, then held on bravely for pens. They defended excellently and - being Croatia - were near flawless in the PK. The goalie was outstanding.

This will not go down as one of the vintage Brazil teams. Samba dancing far, far too early in the tournament!

9 ( +9 / -0 )

Excellent, nothing like seeing the arrogance drain from Neymars face.

A shame we could not get the double, and have the Argies go out twith them.

6 ( +9 / -3 )

Imagine how much Japan would have beaten Brazil by with their attacking football. Looks like Brazil are back to the pack. Time for an Asian country to reign.

-6 ( +4 / -10 )

Croatian goal keeper is amazing.

10 ( +10 / -0 )

(as expected) The Brazilians always have a hard time against European teams; well done, Croatia(!), well organized and mentally and psychologically strong; where’s the “anti-European” crowd now(?) (heheh)

AND the Dutch were SO close just minutes ago; but(!) there’s one thing: this Argentinian team can’t beat England, Portugal or France.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Argentina also advances on PK! I love soccer penalty shoot outs! Nothing like spending two hours of your time after midnight to watch a decision made in few minutes by players shooting straight on the goal in a highly controlled and static situation -- at a pivotable stage in the world's greatest tournament.

Soccer is such an exciting game!! I propose to abolish regular play all together and hold only the shoot outs. Then the matches would be over in 15 minutes and the public would have a lot more time to watch NHL.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

Yes, we get it, JeffLee, you don't like football. The Croatians are amazingly resilient. Hats off to them.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

The national GDP for Argentina yesterday, $0. Everyone was watching tele.

The Dutch still went to work. Could that have been the difference? ;) Record number of yellow cards handed out. Messi earned 2, but only got 1. Seemed like the ref was slightly biased. Argentina was slowing the game down, but it backfired in normal playtime. +12m added.

Exciting to the last kick. Extremely enjoyable with plenty of highs and lows.

How can anyone not love the Croatian story, even if you like Brazil's soccer team? A country of less than 4M people beats Brazil? Costa Rica has more people.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

I love football, at least I used to.

This World Cup is the first time I have watched the game for a couple years because I have come to really dislike the whole spectacle. The players don't play with honour or sportsmanship. The diving, feigning, faking, cheating, petulance and dissent is simply awful to watch and a terrible way to teach young kids what is right and wrong. How can you respect a player who is paid a million dollars a week when he behaves like a 5 year old? It's embarrassing. That's not the way a man behaves.

The referees are culpable because they reward it, which is no surprise as FIFA select representatives, which has spectacularly modeled that corruption and cheating as the modus operandi of institutional global football in general. That organisation is rotten to the core and the residue of that is manifested in the state of play of the contemporary game.

Neymar scored because he actually stayed on his feet for once. He spent the rest of the time writhing in agony when another human was in his general vicinity. Argentina were the same, which is partly why the Dutch were so upset with them. I like watching the teams that stand up and play. I thought the Africans were better at this, and to a lesser extent some of the Asian teams. The South American and some of the European teams (Spain, Serbia) were terrible.

So I'm glad Brazil lost. They are an incredible set of players who technically should easily win the World Cup. But in reality they are a team full of self-centered peacocks who can't form an effective and cohesive unit and play the game in an ugly manner.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

The referees are culpable because they reward it, which is no surprise as FIFA select representatives, which has spectacularly modeled that corruption and cheating as the modus operandi of institutional global football in general. That organisation is rotten to the core and the residue of that is manifested in the state of play of the contemporary game.

I agree with this assessment. Diving, faking injury and cheating are endemic to the latin teams, sorry to say. Italians are masters of it as are all the South Americans. Middle Eastern teams have eagerly adopted it too as seen in the Asian qualifiers.

The reason I like watching EPL, J League and Scottish PL is that there is far less cheating in those leagues. Cheating is actually considered weak there.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

A simple rule change would end the faked injury and prevent the ref from guessing the truth.

Anyone who stays down is removed from the match for 5 minutes to be checked out medically the first time, 10 minutes the 2nd time. 20 minutes the 3rd time. The faking would end immediately.

I'd allow 30 seconds to celebrate a goal. If they don't kick the ball off within that 30 seconds, the person who made the goal is removed for at least 5 minutes and no replacement is allowed.

Let's keep the match moving, though I do enjoy some samba as much as the next guy.

FIFA isn't a sports organization. It is a business.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Japantime: "Imagine how much Japan would have beaten Brazil by with their attacking football. Looks like Brazil are back to the pack. Time for an Asian country to reign."

Actually, Japan would have lost 10-2 to Brazil, if not 10-0. Sorry, but if you can say matter-of-factly that Japan would have won, I can just as easily point out they would have been slaughtered (the only difference being there is more evidence to back up what I am saying and zero to back up what you are). Cut the whining. Japan lost. Deal with it.

-3 ( +4 / -7 )

Great to say goodbye to Neymar and his band of snivelling brothers. Rather than disrespecting the other teams with the dance routines, they should focus on performance.

They were totally schooled by the Croats on performance, respect and resilience, especially that outstanding keeper and the evergreen Modric.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Croatia ≧ Brazil = Japan, hahaha

-7 ( +0 / -7 )

Croatia is an incredible footballing country. Just 4 million people but produces some talent.

Modric in particular is a gem - worth 5 Neymars. I can’t think of any player I’d rather see lift a World Cup.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

The reason I like watching EPL, J League and Scottish PL is that there is far less cheating in those leagues. Cheating is actually considered weak there.

Yep, it is weak and it looks pathetic. It just makes the game a farce.

A simple rule change would end the faked injury and prevent the ref from guessing the truth.

Anyone who stays down is removed from the match for 5 minutes to be checked out medically the first time, 10 minutes the 2nd time. 20 minutes the 3rd time. The faking would end immediately.

They clearly need to re-take control of the match from the players who are manipulating the whole game unfairly, but FIFA needs to first recognise that the culture of the sport is corrupt, which is rather ironic and would appear impossible for an organisation full of individuals whose collective culture is to have the snout firmly embedded in the trough.

IMO, FIFA needs to be completely disbanded and a new organisation installed with a partial mandate to reset and maintain the culture of the game. Otherwise, I don't see it changing.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Wonder where the disgruntled Germany fan is that made fun of Japan having 130 million people losing to a country with 4 million. Well Brazil has 216 million people, what now?

0 ( +3 / -3 )

and the public would have a lot more time to watch NHL

I hate to break it to you, but I doubt most of the public around the world would even know what NHL means. I only know a little about it from living in the US.

It should be called the NIHL anyway. Real hockey is much more popular around the world ;)

Anyway, back to sports that matter. The point about diving and histrionics has long been an issue. The old timers will tell you it’s nothing new but it’s worse now. One improvement has been to clean up spoiling play - Claudio Gentile on Maradona wouldn’t be accepted now which is a good thing. Feigning injury can also be dealt with.

Anyone who stays down is removed from the match for 5 minutes to be checked out medically the first time, 10 minutes the 2nd time. 20 minutes the 3rd time. The faking would end immediately

This is one of the better solutions.

The simplistic idea of yellows and reds for diving after viewing VAR isn’t always applicable as sometimes there is contact and it’s difficult to know how bad the impact was or if it’s a genuine pull or twist of a muscle etc. It can still be used to some extent, and if a player is down holding his face when there is clearly no contact - it should be a straight red.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

They thought they won and just like 1982 WC, when all they need was a draw with Italy to qualify next round, they got carried away especially Antony....and so Paolo Rossi punished them. Brazil never learn do they? Honestly, when Fred came on, you know Croatia might score.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Any team but Argentina. Please!

0 ( +3 / -3 )

I was really happy to see Brazil team floppers lose. There are fish on a hot sidewalk that don’t flop as much as these guys do. at least until they get a solid shot on goal, then they’re NFL linebackers at absorbing contact.

Good riddance.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Croatian Livakovic is proving to be a hard nut to crack. In Qatar, Dominik has been outstanding under the bar. Zlatko Dalic has a compact defense, versatile midfield, and hungry men all over the park. Luka Modric is getting younger each passing year. Well played Croatia.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

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