World Cup 2022.. penalty kicks give Croatia the pass to the semi-finals at the expense of Brazil

The Croatian national football team achieved a fatal victory over its counterpart Brazil, by penalty kicks, 4-2, in the match that took place this evening, Friday, at the Education City Stadium, in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup, which is currently being held in Qatar.

The original and extra time ended in a draw with a goal for each of them. The first half of the match was mediocre, dominated by cautious performance, especially from the Croatian side, amid a clear preference for the Brazilian team, which appeared more organized, which relied on the skill of the duo Neymar Da Silva and Vinicius Junior.

And the performance continued throughout the first half of the Brazil-Croatia match, between hit and run, without any effectiveness or significant danger to the two goals.

The Brazilian national team revealed its fangs and pressed hard in search of shaking the net of Croatia, but the goalkeeper, Dominik Levakovic, had the samba attacks on the lookout, the first attack was in the 48th minute, a shot by Neymar from inside the penalty area, but it hit the defender to reach Vinicius Junior, who hit a ball that saved it The goalkeeper succeeded, but the match referee ruled offside after doubting a penalty kick in favor of Brazil.

And from a wonderful pass in the 55th minute, from Richarlison to Neymar to the left of the penalty area in favor of Brazil, who hit a ball that was successfully saved by the goalkeeper, and in the 66th minute, after defensive confusion inside the Croatian penalty area, the ball reaches Pakita in complete solitude to hit a powerful ball that was blocked by a goalkeeper. goal successfully.

And from another complete solitude in the 76th minute, from the Brazilian Neymar from the left of the penalty area in favor of Brazil, to hit a ball that was brilliantly blocked by the Croatian goalkeeper, and then a cross from the right side in favor of Brazil, to reach Neymar to the left of the penalty area, who sent a pass to Pakita to hit a powerful left ball that he blocked. The goalkeeper steadily, and the second half ended in a goalless draw.

In the additional first half, Neymar Dasilva managed to disengage with a wonderful goal in the 105th minute, with wonderful short passes between the players of the samba team, to pass Pakita to Neymar, who dodged the Croatian goalkeeper and hit a ball into the net, equaling Pele's record as a historical goal for the Brazilian national team with 77 goals.

In the additional second half, the Croatian national team scored the equalizing goal by Bruno Petkovic in the 116th minute, from a counterattack, to end the match in a draw, and the two teams resorted to penalty kicks to determine the identity of the team that qualified for the semi-finals.

Since beating Germany 2-0 in the final in 2002, Brazil has lost each of its World Cup knockout matches against European nations, including three quarter-final matches in that round (France in 2006 and the Netherlands in 2010). and Belgium in 2018).

On the other hand, Croatia has not won a knockout match in a major tournament in regular time since 1998.

With this result, the Croatian national team crosses the semi-finals of the tournament, and awaits the winner of the confrontation that will start shortly and will bring together the national teams of Argentina and the Netherlands.

Croatia defeated Japan 3-1 on penalties, within the framework of the sixteenth round of the Qatar World Cup 2022, while Brazil beat South Korea by four goals to one in the round of sixteen matches, and the Samba team succeeded in snatching a card. Qualifying for the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup.