The most iconic night of the Qatar World Cup is upon us as the quarterfinals begin.
Messi's pass sealed the deal in the Dutch-Argentine game of the century, with scripts that went from 2-0 to an emphatic draw to a penalty shootout paying homage to the epic.
In Van Gaal's Holland, Messi and Argentina were an extraordinary achievement, while Croatia were even more inspiring in terms of their mental attributes and will.
Before Croatia and Brazil, this match was seen as the "least suspenseful" After all, the five-star Brazil's dominance all the way to the end of the game is clear for all to see, the Gers seem to be stumbling.
On the one hand, it is the favorite to win the title by scoring four goals in less than 40 minutes in the 1/8 finals, and on the other hand, it is the old team that played penalty kicks with Japan. However, if we judge with conventional thinking, we would think that Brazil can pass the test with flying colors.
However, coming out of the war Modric once again showed resilient strength as Croatia were mostly overpowered by Brazil but never fell into disarray.
Even if the Brazilian talent breaks through the impenetrable fortress, it will favor Vakovic's shot.
The overconfident Brazilians were thrown into cold water. They thought they had broken their opponents' iron barricade at the end of the group stage, but it backfired. Perhaps even Tite didn't expect his team to be dragged into extra time.
Of course, Brazil was one step away from promotion. Neymar finally gave the Sambas the lead at the end of the first half of extra time. Judging by the power differential between the two sides, five-star Brazil is almost on the verge of advancing.
As a result, Fred broke up a late attack, which gave Croatia the chance to counterattack. It was the only shot on goal in the 116th minute as Petkovic scored the absolute equalizer.
It was reminiscent of Croatia's Euro 2008 quarterfinal against Turkey. Modric assisted "Kidney Fighter" Krasniqi's winner in the 119th minute, only for Semih to equalize from the penalty spot and send the game to a penalty shootout.
Fourteen years ago, it was the Stars and Moons who had the last laugh, and this time, it was Croatia who scored the tie-breaking goal, and it was Croatia who won the penalty shootout.
Interestingly, the failure of Euro 2008 opened the Croatian "King of the Grind" in the last nine knockout matches of the World Championship, the Checkers 8 times into overtime.
Croatia and Portugal shook hands 0-0 in regulation time in the Euro 2016 1/8 final, with Quaresma finishing the winning goal in the 117th minute to keep the Checkers out of the top eight.
At the 2018 World Cup, Croatia can be called the kings of extra time. They fought hard against Denmark, Russia and England. They eliminated Denmark and Russia through penalty shootouts. In the semifinals, Mandzukic scored the winning goal to make a historic run to the final.
At last year's Euros, Croatia once again reached the knockout stage. When the Checkers were still 1-3 down in the 80th minute, they chased down two consecutive goals to send the game into extra time, but still found it hard to fend off two consecutive cities from Spain to stop 3-5 in the round of 16.
Then came this World Cup, where Croatia's matches against Japan and Brazil went down to a final penalty shootout, and just like four years ago, the Checkers had the last laugh.
In the last 14 years, the only tournament in which Croatia did not participate in extra time was the World Cup final in Russia. They ended up losing 2-4 to France to finish as runners-up. After careful math, Modric and his teammates have won four consecutive penalty shootouts in World Cup knockout matches!
The Croats standing in front of the 12-yard box look like a bunch of "execution" fighters facing rich families, so one wonders when they last fell in front of the penalty spot.
The answer is a little strange: a 3-4 defeat to the national soccer team in the 2017 China Cup third-place playoff.
This is something that even Ball didn't see coming.
Well, black humor belongs to black humor, and the World Cup tournament will continue, with Argentina and Croatia meeting in the semifinals, more or less unexpectedly.
Who do you see advancing to the finals this time?
