Croatia 1-3 Mexico: The match collapsed in 10 minutes
The match between Croatia and Mexico ended with a deserved 3-1 victory for Mexico. The CONCACAF team qualified for the round of 16 as the second team in Group A.
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| Mexico had a deserved victory. |
Score:
Croatia:Perisic (87')
Mexico:Marquez (72'), Guardado (75'), Chicharito (82')
During the 90 minutes, Croatia had more possession and were more proactive in attacking. Simply because the European representative needed a win to advance from the group stage. But stalemate was the general face of Croatia in this match. Meanwhile, Mexico proved to be very dangerous in flexible and cohesive attacking arrangements.
The three goals were the inevitable result of Mexico's effective play. Centre-back Rafael Marquez opened the scoring in the 72nd minute with a decisive header. Guardado doubled the lead just three minutes later and Javier Hernandez sealed the 3-0 victory in the 82nd minute. Croatia almost collapsed in the second half and when they rose up in the final minutes, it was too late. Perisic's equalizer was only a consolation for coach Niko Kovac and his team.
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| Guardado and teammates confidently entered the round of 16 |
Croatia's defeat was made even sadder by Rebic's red card after a rough tackle on an opponent. This was also the match where the referee made a serious mistake when he missed a penalty for Mexico, when Srna handled the ball in the penalty area. Nevertheless, Mexico had a convincing victory to advance to the World Cup group stage for the 6th consecutive time. El Tricolor's opponent in the round of 16 will be the Netherlands, the team that won Group B.
Thus, after Spain and England, Croatia became the third European representative to have to pack their bags and go home after the group stage.
Line-up:
Croatia:Pletikosa, Vrsaljko, Pranjic, Perisic, Corluka, Lovren, Rakitic, Modric, Srna, Mandzukic, Olic.
Mexico:Ochoa, Rodriguez, Marquez (c), Herrera, Layun, Dos Santos, Moreno, Guardado, Peralta, Aguilar, Vazquez.
