FIFA World Cup Round of 16 : Japan vs Croatia

 In a ding dong battle of nerves, resilience & footballing skills, Samurai Warriors Japan took on the last edition's runners up Croatia in the round of 16 knock out game. 

Although Croatia enjoyed the better of the possession in the 1st half, their passing was lazy & it was Japan who took advantage of this to counter attack to come back in the game. Around the end minutes of the half, Doan's cross from a short corner is met by Yoshida & his header falls into a dangerous spot inside the box & Maeda reacted first to put the ball into the net, as Japan lead 1-0 into half time. Perisic had Croatia's best chance, but he muffled with only keeper Gonda to beat. 

However, 10 minutes into the 2nd half, Croatia found their equaliser, as veteran Perisic found Lovren's cross inside the box & he headed hard into the bottom right corner, as core levelled at 1-1. From then on, both sides did all that they could, & half chances went abegging at both ends, as the supporters gnawed their nails in agony of a miss or heave a sigh of relief at a reprieve. The game went on & on, as none gave an inch to the other. Full time whistle ended the regulation time & the match went into extra time for the first time in this tournament. However, while both sides induced a few changes to bring in fresh legs, the score remained unchanged & the game moved to nerve wracking  penalties. 

However, after such an emphatic battle of everything on cards, it was a complete wash out in the penalties. Croatian keeper, Livakovic made two saves in a row at the beginning & in all three rather simple saves, as the Japanese shooters caved in, probably under pressure, & Croatia sailed into the quarterfinals. The Samurai Warriors from the Land of the Rising Sun, saw their Sun go down, as hung shoulders, & dazed eyes told the story of so near & yet so far. They failed to create their third upset of the tournament, after consuming Germany & Spain. - It was a fabulous record & one to be proud of certainly. 

Croatia maintained their 100% record of penalty shoot outs in World Cup, having won all three (against Denmark & Russia in 2018 & now against Japan). They live to fight another day, in their legendary capability to come out of the deepest dug out as ever, & now await the winners between Brazil & South Korea, later in the evening.