In the passionate collision on December 10, Beijing time, Croatia eliminated Brazil with the victory of penalty kicks, advancing into the quarterfinals of the World Cup. Croatia is like a king on the stage of penalty shootout, four consecutive penalty shootout are successful, however, who would have expected, finally beat them is the Chinese men's soccer team! Croatia's penalty shootout in the history of the World Cup in the end how brilliant? Looking back at the past two World Cups, Croatia broke into the penalty shootout four times, repeatedly laughed in the end, and Germany side by side to become the dominant player in the penalty shootout.In the 2018 World Cup, they first beat Denmark with 4-3, and then beat Russia with 6-5; in the current World Cup, they beat Japan with 4-2, and then eliminated Brazil with 5-3.
However, who would have expected that the last team to beat Croatia in a penalty shootout would be the Chinese men's soccer team.In the final of the China Cup on January 14, 2017, facing Croatia, which is ranked 14th in the world, the Chinese national soccer team had 53% possession of the ball in the first 20 minutes, creating constant pressure on the Croatian defense. However, Croatia was the first to break through. In the 36th minute, Ivanušekić skillfully sent the ball into the right side of China's penalty area, Tudor skillfully passed the ball, and Ivanušekić followed up and pushed the ball into the goal. In the second half, Lippi made changes to the lineup, replacing Cai Huikang and Gao Junyi with Hu Ren - Feng Gang, and targeting the backline, replacing Yang Shanping with Wang Jinxian. In the 76th minute, Lippi made a key substitution, replacing Huijiakang with Wang Jingbin and partnering with Wang Jinxian in a double striker. 11 minutes later, Yin Hongbo took the right flank to attack, and Deng Hanwen's cross was headed in by Wang Jingbin, who broke through to equalize the score. It is worth mentioning that Wang Jingbin's goal was the first goal for the national soccer team in Lippi's era.
The two sides then went into a penalty shootout. Perošević's penalty hit the crossbar and Fan Xiaodong's penalty was saved by his opponent. In the fifth round, Croatia's Misic's penalty kick was saved by Shi Xiaotian, and Wang Jinxian beat his opponent 4-3. With a total score of 5-4, the Chinese men's soccer team beat Croatia and finished third. It's worth noting that Livakovic hadn't made his debut in that match, and he couldn't even play in China. Now, he saved Croatia in the knockout stage of the World Cup. In the match against Brazil, he contributed 11 saves, setting a single-game record since the 2014 World Cup. In this World Cup, there have been four penalties, and no goalkeeper in history has made more saves than him.
