CRASHING BACK DOWN TO EARTH
England’s dream is crushed by clinical Croatia
One lapse. That is all it takes in this rarest of atmospheres. Kieran Trippier lost his header to Ivan Perisic, Mario Mandzukic ran off John Stones and england were out of the World Cup.
It took Croatia 109 minutes of football to take the lead against england, but they edged it comfortably in the end. They were the better team in the second half, they hit the post, Jordan Pickford made one magnificent save.
Yet there is no shame here, no failure. england did as well as could possibly be expected given their youth, inexperience and the absence of a playmaker in the class of Luka Modric.
They battled Croatia to a standstill, both teams exhausted, all energy and emotion spent. They could not have given more, either team, and that a single goal separated them is fitting.
Credit Croatia, too. This was a spirited performance after two knockout games that have reached penalties. When england took the lead after five minutes, and dominated the opening 30, it would have been easy to be overwhelmed. Instead, they found a way back into the game, through Modric and man of the match Perisic, outstanding technical talents.
Croatia were always going to be the strongest test england had faced in this competition to here, and so it proved.
If england had the upper hand for the bulk of the first half, the second — in its entirety — belonged to Croatia. This was the team england feared. Controlling the ball in midfield through Modric, with Perisic quite brilliant coming in from the left. england looked ragged through that second 45 minutes, leggy, edgy, panicked.
In a seven-minute spell, Croatia took them apart, physically and technically.
Poor Kyle Walker was struck a devastating blow in the crotch from a shot by Perisic, collapsed, and when the ball did not go out of play, got up to clear the recycled cross. Then he fell again. It was a heroic moment. Whether it played a part in what happened next is hard to say.
Just three minutes later, Sime Vrsaljko hit a superb, deep cross from the right and Perisic drifted off Tripper and attacked the ball. Walker went for a diving headed clearance but Perisic nipped in first and met it with a volleyed flick past Pickford.
A high boot? Possibly, but Walker was stooping, so it was a judgment call. Referee Cuneyt Cakir went with the scorer. The pressure was now unrelenting. Perisic capitalised on the growing uncertainty in england’s back line and hit the far post with a shot, Ante Rebic putting a tame rebound into the arms of Pickford. This was as rattled as england had looked all tournament. Pickford came for a high ball, didn’t get it, and Perisic shot over, the goal unguarded.
And yet there were moments when england’s strengths surfaced once more.
Substitute Marcus Rashford won a free-kick, which Trippier curled in only for Harry Kane to steer a free header wide. That fifth minute when Trippier had given england a precious lead seemed an age away as the game moved into extra-time.
It is a very select group, those who have scored for england direct from free-kicks. even more exclusive, the little club that have done it at a World Cup. It’s David Beckham, actually. Just him. One against Colombia, most recently against ecuador in 2006. Still, if he does ever decide to form an england World Cup Free-Kick Scorers’ Society, at least he’ll have company at their annual ball. He’ll have Trippier after last night. Just five minutes gone, first real attack of the game. What a start it was for Trippier and england. There can be little doubt now of his talent for delivering a ball. We’ve already seen his first-time crosses, his vicious, perfectly flighted corners, but he has never
scored a freekick for England. No time like the present, then. No time like a World Cup semi-final.
It began when Dele Alli was fouled by Modric just inside the penalty area D. England had been on red alert for Modric and what he could do, so it was ironic that Croatia were suffering with the pace and movement of England’s forward midfield instead. A trio of England players stood around the ball deliberating, but the suspicion always was that it would be Trippier’s responsibility at this range.
He did not disappoint. The whole Croatia wall jumped but somehow the Tottenham man got it up, over and down to leave Danijel Subasic grasping at thin air in Croatia’s goal. The ball passed over Dejan Lovren’s head en route. Not small, Lovren. It was a quite exquisite free-kick. On the bench, Gareth Southgate pumped his fists and then returned to default concentration mode. Five minutes is desperately early to take the lead in a World Cup semi-final. Better than going behind after five, obviously. But it’s an age to defend that lead — and, as against Tunisia when this campaign began, England squandered several chances to take the pressure off. In the 14th minute, a Trippier corner was met by Harry Maguire and he steered his header low towards the far post. A touch from a lurker and England would have been two ahead but no one was there.
Maybe England are so used to scoring headers direct from these dead balls, they aren’t following in.
Then the chance that amazed and frustrated in equal measure. Frustrated because it was a genuinely good chance missed by England; amazed because it was Kane who fluffed it.
The pass from Jesse Lingard was perfect and suddenly Kane was clear. Free of Croatia’s defence, only Subasic to beat. He tried to slot it past him and the whole stadium expected to see the ball come to rest in the goal, but no. Subasic saved and Kane scrambled desperately to be first to the rebound, now at an acute angle.
He tried to whip it in, but the ball hit the near post, came out, struck Subasic and spun up in the air across goal and out on the other side. The second chance was tough. But the first? In Kane’s world, that was a sitter.
Six minutes later, England could have scored again. Alli, enjoying his best game of the tournament, the provider, finding Lingard whose attempt to pass it into the net from the edge of the area was ambitious and travelled the wrong side of the post.
But this was still a huge performance from England, with Lovren struggling to contain Raheem Sterling in particular.
It was clearly the plan to use his pace in running races against Croatia’s back line — and it worked. With Alli and Lingard skipping around in his orbit, England looked dangerous.
Of course, when Modric got on the ball so did Croatia, and the ten minutes before half-time he controlled.
The second half was dominated by Croatia — a team of players who seemed ignorant to the pre-match talk that tiredness would tell.
When they got themselves level it was only a matter of time what happened next.
That it took into the added half hour is to England’s credit — but the plaudits go to the team who will face France in Sunday’s final.