Croatia Defeat Danes on Penalties

NIZHNY-NOVGOROD, RUS—Croatia advanced to the quarterfinals of the World Cup for the first time in 20 years by defeating Denmark on penalties following a 1-1 draw after 120 minutes. The first few minutes saw both teams score bizarre goals. The Danes got theirs after 57 seconds as Mathias Jorgensen poked a ball underneath goalkeeper Danijel Subasic. Three minutes later, the Croats equalized after Jonas Knudsen’s clearance went off Martin Delaney and right to Mario Mandzukic who made no mistake.

Things got a bit dull after than and really didn’t get interesting until the second half of stoppage time when both teams were trying for the win. Croatia had the best chance in the 111th minute when Ante Rebic got in behind the Danish defense and was taken down by Jorgensen for a penalty kick. But Luca Modric’s spot kick would be stopped by Kasper Schmeichel.

On to the shootout and both Subasic and Schmeichel were on song. Schmeichel would stop Milan Badelj and Josep Pivaric; but Subasic would save on Christian Eriksen, Lasse Schone, and Nicolai Jorgensen before Ivan Rakitic converted the deciding penalty to send Croatia through.

It’s a tough way to go out for the Danes who pushed Croatia to the limit. But for Croatia this is a chance to match and even exceed what the previous generation in France did 20 years ago. They now travel to Sochi to take on the hosts Russia on Saturday at 1pm CT.