It had been another rainy day in Philadelphia but that didn’t spoil the party. Sixty-eight thousand people in ponchos were still able to enjoy an intriguing contest defined by cracking goals, and one where both teams left the field happy. For Croatia, there was second place in Group L and a reminder that they remain a serious team. For Ghana there was progress to the knockout rounds for the first time since 2010, and even some full-throttle attacking, for a few minutes at least.
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There were questions over what incentive either team would have to give their all. A goalless draw appeared to give each a good chance of progression through Fifa’s intricate qualification matrix. Croatia would have finished third, but with a potentially preferable route, Ghana would have finished in second place behind England on goal difference. It would have been a nice and cosy settlement; but Croatia weren’t up for it.
Granted, the opening half was hardly played at a high tempo, even given the comparatively cool temperatures in Philadelphia. But from the opening minutes it was clear that Zlatko Dalic had set his Croatia side up to open the pitch as much as possible, to draw the doughty Ghana defence apart and away from where they were most comfortable. With the full-backs posted to the touchline it was no surprise to see Croatia’s first opportunity, in the ninth minute, arrive as a result of an Ivan Perisic cross from the left, which the goalkeeper Benjamin Asare was able to claim.
If Croatia couldn’t work a cross from an advantageous position, they had another tactic in hand. In the 17th minute, after Gideon Mensah had coughed up position on Ghana’s left the ball was worked wide but not crossed and instead shifted back inside where Nikola Vlasic was free in a central position 25 yards from goal. The former Everton man needed no invitation to get his shot off, and it beat Asare, only to deflect off his right-hand post.
The question of why England had not sought to make greater use of their ability from long range against Ghana did come to mind as Croatia doubled down on the tactic and, ultimately, opened the scoring from it. The European side had taken control of the game by the time it reached the half-hour mark, with the double pivot of Luka Modric and Mateo Kovacic pulling the strings. In the 31st minute the ball was worked from the left hand side, and into Kovacic’s path. The Manchester City man smuggled the ball quickly across the field, finding the rangy Petar Sucic in space. Again the wide forward knew what was required of him and got off a low shot from 30 yards out which went straight through defender Marvin Senaya’s legs and crept inside the same post Vlasic had earlier clipped.
There was a moment of hope for Ghana almost immediately afterwards when Antoine Semenyo wriggled his way into the Croatia box and, as so often in the past year, drilled an impeccable shot low across goal which only narrowly missed the target. But half time required Ghana to rethink and Carlos Queiroz duly responded, switching his message from no paseran to ‘stick it in the mixer’
With a double substitution including the introduction of Abdul Fatawu on to the right wing, Ghana went to it right from the restart. In the 49th minute Fatawu made it to the byline and bent over a cross that only just escaped Semenyo. Three minutes later and Fatawu read Croatian possession to seize the ball on the edge of the box. He quickly slipped Semenyo through again, but the Manchester City forward took a heavy touch and the ball ran through to Dominik Livakovic.
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There were boos around the ground when news of England’s advantage against Panama was announced, and things got worse for Croatia fans in the 73rd minute when Ghana earned a deserved equaliser. It came from a delivery by Ernest Nuamah, another second-half substitute, whose free-kick was whipped from the right into the Croatia box and was met with no little skill by the defender Derrick Luckassen, who used the velocity of the ball to turn it low back across goal and into the net. After initially ruling the goal out for offside, the Canadian referee Drew Fischer was eventually coaxed to the monitor by the VAR, and changed his mind.
That was not the end, however, nor in the see-saw shifts in momentum. With the game ticking into the final 10 minutes, Croatia managed somehow to raise their intensity again, and driving at goal the substitute Mario Pasalic hit a fierce drive that forced a brilliant save from Asare. A corner followed and Modric delivered, his cross reaching the middle of a congested box before it fell to Vlasic, who was unerring with his finish.
Delirious scenes followed the goal and the anxiety that had troubled Croatia’s vast support ebbed away once again. The job was not quite done but when you have Modric on your team, switching off in the dying seconds is not an option. In stoppage time, when Fatawu danced into the Croatia box again, it was Modric, who had just become the oldest player ever to register an assist at the World Cup, who took the ball off the winger’s toe. Both teams deserve their place in the knockouts.
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