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Neymar In Tears As Croatia Stun Brazil 4–2 On Penalties To Reach World Cup Semi-finals
Neymar broke down in tears after he failed to lead Brazil to the semi-final of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
EKO HOT BLOG reports that Croatia has defeated Brazil on penalty shootouts to reach the semi-final of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Marquinhos missed the crucial spot-kick in the shoot-out, hitting the post when he had to score to keep Brazil in it after Rodrygo’s earlier attempt had been saved by goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic and Croatia converted all four penalties.
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It was a remarkable turnaround after Brazil had looked set for victory when Neymar opened the scoring with a wonderful strike midway through extra time that allowed him to equal Pele’s Brazilian record of 77 international goals
But Bruno Petkovic hit back at the other end in the 117th minute for Croatia to force a shoot-out, and Zlatko Dalic’s team followed up their win over Japan on penalties in the last round with this victory, which must go down as their greatest-ever triumph.
They advance to the semi-finals, while Brazil will have to wait at least another four years before winning a record-extending sixth title.
Neymar — who left the pitch in tears — had fired Brazil into the lead at the end of the first half of extra-time, working one-twos with Rodrygo and Lucas Paqueta before rounding goalkeeper Livakovic to score.
But it did not break Croatia’s resistance as the 2018 World Cup finalists hit back to level.
Brazil had never played with the same attacking flair as in their last-16 win over South Korea.
Croatia were as obdurate and difficult to break down as ever, and they have now gone to extra time in eight of their last nine major tournament knockout matches, with the exception being their defeat to France in the World Cup final four years ago.
It seemed as if they were heading for defeat when Neymar broke the deadlock, but Croatia showed all their resilience to equalise when Petkovic applied a first-time finish to a low centre by fellow substitute Mislav Orsic.
Then came penalties, and Nikola Vlasic, Lovro Majer, Modric, and Orsic all converted for Croatia, while Rodrygo and Marquinhos came up short.
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Neymar, supposed to take Brazil’s final kick, did not get the chance, and his tournament ended in tears.
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