Croatia make the quarter-finals the hard way — again — while Neymar proves his ankle injury isn’t an issue
FOOTBALL
Neymar scored his first goal of this year’s World Cup after kissing the ball and calmly sending a low shot from the spot after waiting the goalkeeper to choose a side in the 13th minute. He danced as his teammates huddled around him, then did dance moves along with Vinı´cius Junior and other teammates before raising his arms to the sky and smiling broadly.
Neymar was forced out of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil after getting hurt in the quarter-finals.
Fans chanted his name as he walked off the field after the match. He had been substituted in the 81st.
Vinı´cius Ju´nior scored the first goal from inside the area after a cross by Raphinha in the seventh minute, Richarlison added to the lead from close range after a nice exchange of passes by the Brazilians in the 29th, and Lucas Paqueta´ scored the fourth before halftime after an assist by Vinı´cius
Ju´nior.
They celebrated each goal by dancing, and even Brazil coach Tite participated in Richarlison’s traditional “pigeon” celebration.
Paik Seung-ho scored South Korea’s goal in the 76th minute.
● Croatia are going deep at another World Cup, and the team are taking the long route once again.
Goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic saved three penalty kicks in Croatia’s 3-1 win over Japan in a shootout, securing a return to the quarter-finals for the runners-up in the 2018 tournament.
On their run to the final four years ago, Croatia needed extra time in each round in the knockout stage — and twice came through a penalty shootout.
“We in Croatia do things this way, you could see that four years ago as well,” said Livakovic, who was the back-up goalkeeper to Danijel Subasic in 2018. “I continued the tradition.”
This time, Mario Pasalic converted the clinching penalty for Croatia after the teams were tied at 1-1 after extra time.
After the ball hit the net, Pasalic and the rest of Croatia’s jubilant players headed right for Livakovic, who had saved penalties from Takumi Minamino, Kaoru Mitomo and Maya Yoshida. While Croatia — semifinalists in 1998 — prepare to take on Brazil in the quarter-finals, Japan exit a World Cup in the round of 16 for the fourth time, just like in 2002, 2010 and 2018. The Asian team also lost in a penalty shootout to Paraguay at that stage in 2010.
Japan made their mark in Qatar, though, having beaten Germany and Spain — two of the last three World Cup champions — in huge upsets in the group stage.
“The players showed a new era of Japanese football, I think,” Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu said.
“They should use this feeling of being upset and try to go further next time.
“We cannot be superheroes in one go. We have to improve step by step. But Japan is reaching a level where we can play on the world stage.”
In an even 90 minutes of regulation play, striker Daizen Maeda put Japan ahead in the 43rd minute by sweeping in a close-range finish after Yoshida had inadvertently deflected the ball across the front of goal following a cross into the area.
Ivan Perisic equalised by meeting Dejan Lovren’s cross from the right with a header into the bottom corner from near the penalty spot in the 57th.
The result guarantees at least one more World Cup game for 37-year-old Croatia captain Luka Modric, one of the best midfielders of his generation.
Modric was substituted in the first half of extra time and wasn’t part of the shootout.
Since 1998, all of Croatia’s knockout matches at a World Cup or European Championship have gone to extra time except for the 2018 World Cup final loss to France.