Inspired Croatia leave Argentina facing shock exit

The game always looked like being one that would decide who would finish top of Group D, but it may have had much more serious repercussions in the end.

Onlookers were treated to a cagey affair during the first half, with either side having a couple of excellent chances to break the deadlock, though neither was successful.

Croatia were the first to threaten after just five minutes as Ivan Perisic was granted the freedom of the left flank to advance forward and fire low across goal, but Caballero was equal to his effort on that occasion.

Despite that save, there were signs of shakiness from Caballero, who almost allowed Croatia in when he sold Nicolas Tagliafico short.

For all their struggles in the first half, with one stat showing that Sergio Aguero failed to touch the ball in the last 21 minutes of the first 45, it was Argentina who went closest as Marcos Acuña's cross clipped the top of the crossbar on its way over.

 

June 21, 2018

Enzo Perez missed a glorious chance on the half-hour mark as he sidefooted wide from 16 yards with the goal at his mercy, before Mario Mandzukic somehow failed to hit the target at the far post after meeting Sime Vrsaljko's inviting ball in.

The usual problems were present for the South Americans throughout, with Lionel Messi and Aguero the two outfield players with the least touches for Argentina in the first half.

- Argentina capitaulation - 

Whilst there were some positives in the first half for the Argentines, the second period was one to forget.

Aguero saw a low effort kept out by Danijel Subasic after rolling his man shortly after the restart, but that was about as good as it got for Jorge Sampaoli's side as they contrived to capitulate in spectacular fashion.

Just a minute later, Caballero committed a shocking mistake, completely failing to deal with a passback and presenting the ball to Ante Rebic to emphatically volley home the opener first time.

Sampaoli immediately turned to his bench, arguably the best at the tournament, bringing on Cristian Pavon, Gonzalo Higuain and Paulo Dybala, but other than a couple of speculative effort from the latter, they largely failed to add the missing creative spark.

Messi remained a peripheral figure throughout, something that is unlikely to do his image in his homeland any favours.

Croatia were content to sit tight and defend their lead whilst looking for gaps on the counter, which they found with regularity.

With just 10 minutes to go, captain fantastic Luka Modric put the game beyond Argentina, curling home a wonderful strike from 20 yards after finding a yard of space.

Just six minutes later it was almost three, with Rakitic curling a sensational free-kick off the crossbar with Caballero beaten six ways to Sunday.

The Barcelona man would get his goal though, with his strike coming in injury time. Rakitic himself led a counter, driving forward before using Mateo Kovacic's run as a decoy and shooting for goal. Caballero kept out his initial effort but the substitute has the presence of mind to square the ball to his team-mate, giving him the simple task of stroking into the unguarded net.

The win means Croatia have qualified for the knockout stage, whilst Argentina now rely on results elsewhere to stand any chance of progressing.

 

June 21, 2018