Croatia beat Denmark 3-2 in penalty shootout, to meet Russia in quarterfinal stage
In the second penalty shoot out of the day, Croatia overcame Denmark’s challenge via penalty shoot-out to emerge as 3-2 winners in the pre-quarterfinal game at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium.
Both teams had been deadlocked 1-1 after the end of 90 minutes of regular time and 30 minutes of extra time.
Croatia’s Luka Modric had the chance to send his team into a quarterfinal against hosts Russia with a penalty four minutes from the end of extra time, but Danish goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel dived to his left to save the spot-kick.
A dramatic start with two goals in the first four minutes promised a full-blooded contest to decide who would meet Russia in Sochi on Saturday after the hosts beat Spain on penalties in the early game.
Denmark went ahead after 57 seconds when Mathias Jorgensen scuffed the ball over the line off the foot of goalkeeper Danijel Subasic but Mario Mandzukic had the Croats back on terms with an equally scrappy finish three minutes later.
The remainder of the contest failed to live up to the frenetic start with the physical Danes successfully nullifying the threat of the Croatian midfield that lit up the group stage of the tournament.
