THREE LIONS WEEP TONIGHT
England cry foul after heartbreaking exit B4-5
Anger. Don’t Look Back In Croatia captain Luka Modric´ says they were inspired towards World Cup semifinal victory by a lack of respect from English journalists and commentators.
Croatia fell behind to a fifth minute goal before claiming an extra time 2-1 victory which put them in Monday morning’s final (NZT) against France.
Modric´, who made his name with Tottenham Hotspur, was “scathing” in his opinions of some English media, the Guardian reported.
“People were talking . . . English journalists, pundits from television,” he told ITV. “They underestimated Croatia tonight and that was a huge mistake. All these words from them we take, we were reading and we were saying: ‘Okay, today we will see who will be tired.’ They should be more humble and respect their opponents more.
“We showed again that we were not tired [as predicted in the British media] — we dominated the game mentally and physically.
“We should have killed the game even before extra time. This is an amazing achievement for us — it’s a dream come true after such a long time. We are in the final and that is the biggest success in Croatia history. We have to be proud.”
Teammate Sime Vrsaljko had a similar view, saying: “The all-round perception was that this is a new-look England who have changed their ways of punting long balls upfield but when we pressed them, it turned out that they haven’t.”
Croatia’s coach Zlatko Dalic was of the same mind, saying: “Those experts who thought that England would progress to the final are not experts. If they were, they would have known Croatia are the better team.”
Dalic added: “We deserved to reach the final. What the lads played tonight was fantasy, they’ve made history. God willing, we will be world champions.”
Jubilant goalscorer Ivan Perisic described making the final as a dream come true.
“Twenty years ago I was back at home in my hometown and I rooted for Croatia wearing the Croatia jersey. I could only dream of playing for my country and scoring one of the most important goals to reach the final,” he said. England fans and media are turning on the Turkish referee, after their side was bundled out of World Cup contention by a brilliant Croatian comeback in Moscow.
At the centre of complaints is the goal scored by Ivan Perisic, who they claim had a foot above the legal height when he guided the ball past English keeper Jordan Pickford.
Cuneyt Cakir is in the gun after Croatia progressed to Monday morning’s final (NZT) against heavy favourites France.
The ref has received support though, including from former ref Mark Halsey in The Sun newspaper.
Halsey stated: “Cuneyt Cakir made the correct call in allowing Croatia’s equaliser to stand.
“Kyle Walker stooped to head the ball and, while Ivan Perisic’s foot was off the ground, there was no chance of the goal being disallowed.
“Cakir kept a low profile and I thought he produced a fantastic display.”
However, The Sun headline still screamed: “Fifa should investigate”.
The more measured Independent also weighed in, stating: “The controversy came in that [the] head was beneath the ball and beneath Perisic’s boot, yet England’s cries of a high foot fell on deaf ears as Cakir awarded the goal.
“England protested the case, while social media was awash with cries in frustration.
“If that’s anywhere else on the pitch” could easily have been the mosttweeted
“We created some good chances, being 1-0 up. Maybe we dropped too deep at times. In big games, it’s small margins. There’s a lot we could have done better, but they played well. It’s been great to get to this stage, but we wanted to go on and win it.
“We’ve fallen a bit short. It just hurts. It shows we can win knockout games — the next stage is to go one further. We’ve got to dust ourselves down and go again in a couple of years.
“There are a lot of positives to take from this tournament. It’s a big stepping stone from two years ago.” phrase in the world for those heart-breaking seconds that Croatia filled by celebrating emphatically.
“Cakir was oddly relaxed during the World Cup semifinal between England and Croatia and, it seemed, to the detriment of Three Lions.”
The last comment was a reaction to Croatia committing a lot of early fouls