The meeting got off to a dream start for Canadians. Already in the second minute, Alphonso Davies scored the goal to make it 1:0, thus registering the first goal of this national team in the history of its appearances in the Football World Cup. Andrej Kramarić equalized in the 25th minute, but the Croatian striker was in an offside position and his goal was disallowed.
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10 minutes later, the Hoffenheim sniper took advantage of a superb cross from Ivan Perisic to beat Milan Borjan. This time he was not offside and scored Croatia’s first goal at the World Cup in Qatar. Even before the break, the Croatians took the lead – Marko Livaja scored the goal to make it 2-1.
In the 54th minute, Zlatko Dalić’s players had a perfect situation to increase the score, but this time Kramarić failed to beat former Korona Kielce goalkeeper. A quarter of an hour later, the 31-year-old took advantage of another close scoring opportunity and scored his second goal of the game. Lovro Majer, who appeared on the pitch a few minutes earlier, scored 4-1 in added time.
The loss to Croatia meant Canada no longer even had a mathematical chance of qualifying for the next round of the 2022 World Cup. Hosts Qatar were eliminated from the tournament earlier.
In their first match in the group, Croatia drew 0-0 with Morocco, while Canada lost 0-1 to Belgium. Morocco won 2-0 against Belgium on Sunday.
Croatia – Canada 4:1 (2:1)
Goals: Kramaric 36, 70, Livaja 43, Majer 90+4 – Davies 2
Croatia: Dominik Livakovic – Josip Juranovic, Dejan Lovren, Josko Gvardiol, Borna Sosa – Marcelo Brozovic, Luka Modric (86. Mario Pasalic), Mateo Kovacic (86. Lovro Majer) – Marko Livaja (60. Bruno Petkovic), Ivan Perisic (86. Mislav Orsic), Andrej Kramaric (73. Nikola Vlasic)
Canada: Milan Borjan – Richie Laryea (62nd Junior Hoilett), Kamal Miller, Steven Vitoria, Alistair Johnston, Alphonso Davies – Stephen Eustaquio (46th Ismael Kone), Atiba Hutchinson (72nd Samuel Adekugbe), Tajon Buchanan, Jonathan David (72nd Lucas Cavallini) – Cyle Larin (46. Jonathan Osorio)
Yellow cards: Lovren, Modric-Buchanan, Miller
BS, Polsat Sports
