FACTS & STATS: LIVAKOVIC’S PENALTY HEROICS HELP CROATIA BEAT JAPAN ON TO REACH Q/FINAL
By Farouq Oduola A.
FIFA World Cup Round of 16 Match Statistics
JAPAN VS CROATIA
Venue: Al Janoub Stadium
Croatia won the first penalty shootout at the 2022 World Cup to progress to the quarter-finals in Qatar. Japan missed three spot kicks during the shootout while Croatia only missed one. The penalty shootout came after a 1-1 draw in normal time. Both sides failed to score in extra time.
Japan 1 vs 1 Croatia
(1 3) pen
Japan XI (3-4-3): Gonda; Tomiyasu, Yoshida, Taniguchi; Ito, Endo, Morita, Nagatomo; Doan, Maeda, Kamada
Croatia XI (4-3-3): Livakovic; Juranovic, Lovren, Gvardiol, Barisic; Modric, Brozovic, Kovacic; Kramaric, Petkovic, Perisic
MATCH FACTS
Ivan Perišić has scored more goals at World Cups and European Championships combined than any other Croatia player (10)
Croatia’s Dominik Livakovic is the third goalkeeper to make three saves in a single World Cup penalty shootout after Portugal’s Ricardo in 2006 versus England and Croatia’s Danijel Subasic versus Denmark in 2018.
Croatia have reached the WC Quarter-Finals for the third time in their history (1998, 2018, 2022). They always have been qualified in the WC matches ended after penalty shootout.
