◀ Anchor ▶
Japan, which passed through the group of death, also failed to challenge for the first time in history.
Protagonists of the incident, they played level against Croatia, runners-up in the last tournament, but ended up collapsing on penalties.
Reporter Kim Jang-hoon covered the story.
◀ Report ▶
The first to win was Japan.
On 43 minutes into the first half, striker Maeda, who had regretted scoring all tournament, finally shook up Croatia’s goal.
[카타르 월드컵 MBC 해설진]
“Japan scored, Maeda scored. (Japan wants to enter the quarterfinals for the first time.)”
It was Japan’s first goal of the tournament.
But the momentum didn’t last long.
10′ into the second half Croatia, who forcefully push Japan, turn the game upside down with Perisic equalizing with a header.
Perisic, who is also Son Heung-min’s Tottenham team-mate, has become the main character to score in three consecutive World Cup tournaments.
After that, Japan aimed at each other with Endo’s shot, and Croatia also aimed at each other with Modric’s mid-range surprise shot, the star of the game, but in the 90th minute, the match was 1:1 and the game went to overtime.
In extra time, there were decisive scoring chances, but neither team managed to score an extra point and the match eventually went to a penalty shoot-out.
However, on the threshold of the quarterfinals, which were closer than ever, Japan’s momentum collapsed in vain.
After the footballer Minamino, the footballer n. 2, Mitoma no. 2 and Yoshida no. 4, were all blocked by the fingertips of 27-year-old Croatian goalkeeper Libakovic.
Japan lost 3-1 without even getting a fifth kick and had to hand the quarter-final ticket to Croatia.
[엔도 와타루 / 일본 대표팀]
“Our aim was to progress to the quarter-finals, so this game leaves us with many regrets. We will never forget the memory of this defeat.”
Britain’s BBC analyzed the lack of preparation for the shooting as a defeat, stating, “The Japan national football team appeared to lack experience in penalty shoot-out practice.”
This is Kim Jang-hoon from MBC News.
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