SUPER MARIO
Mandzukic strikes a dagger through English hearts with extra-time clincher
MARIO MANDZUKIC’S dramatic extra-time winner shattered England’s World Cup dream last night as Croatia booked a final showdown with France on Sunday.
Gareth Southgate’s men had got off to the perfect start when Kieran Trippier put them in front with a wonderful free-kick after five minutes.
But the Croatians battled their way back into the game and Ivan Perisic’s 68th-minute volley took the semi-final beyond normal time.
England were finally undone in the 109th minute when Perisic beat Trippier to a loose ball. His header was picked up by Mandzukic, who slotted the ball past Jordan Pickford to spark jubilation among the Croats.
Crestfallen England captain Harry Kane called on his young team to learn from their heartache and ‘go one further’ next time around.
‘It is tough, we are gutted, we worked so hard and the fans were amazing,’ said the
Tottenham star. ‘It was a tough game, 50-50. I’m sure we will look back and there is stuff we could have done better. ‘It hurts, it hurts a lot, but we can hold our heads up high — we have gone further than a lot of people thought we would. ‘Obviously it has been great to get to this stage and we know we have done everyone proud but we wanted to win. ‘It shows we can be up here, that we can win knock-out games, can get to semifinals and the next step is to go one step further. ‘This is a great foundation we have built with the gaffer, we are proud of what we have achieved but we wanted more and are sad we couldn’t give our fans a final.’ Speaking on BBC Radio 5 live, Chris Waddle said England were ‘dead on their feet’ as they collapsed in Moscow. Croatia have played extra-time in each of their knock-out games, but still had the energy to see off England after finishing level on 90 minutes. Waddle said: ‘England are dead on their feet — the back three have no life left, midfield have lost their legs. ‘England just switched off and they are picked off. Tired minds and tired legs. As the ball comes back in there is only one player that reacts and that is Mario Mandzukic.’ Martin Keown added: ‘Mandzukic just steals a march on John Stones and quick as a flash he is on to it. He is not going to miss from there. A quality finish from their leading marksman. You switch off for a moment and you get punished.’ ‘We are deservedly in the final,’ said Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic. ‘What the lads played tonight is fantasy, they’ve made history.’ England will now face Belgium in Saturday’s third-place play-off.