Japan bid farewell to the 2022 Qatar World Cup

Levakovic leads Croatia to the quarter-finals with kicks

• Croatian players celebrate with goalkeeper Levakovic after winning and qualifying.

  Reuters

• Croatian goalkeeper Levakovic saved three penalties against Japan, led his country to a 3-1 victory (original time 1-1), and qualified for the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

  The Croatian goalkeeper appeared to fend off electronic attacks from the Japanese computer, which was coveting to penetrate the Croatian goal.

  A.F.B

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Croatian goalkeeper Dominik Levakovic saved three penalty kicks out of four attempts to lead his country to qualify for the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup after a 3-1 victory over Japan, and after the end of the regular and extra time with a 1-1 draw yesterday.

Daizen Maeda scored the lead goal for Japan in an even match in the round of 16, after he took advantage of a defensive confusion after a corner kick in the 43rd minute, and it seemed that the team might achieve a new surprise after defeating four-time world champions Germany and 2010 world champion Spain in the group stage.

But Ivan Perisic equalized for the Croatian national team, who lost the 2018 World Cup final, with a powerful header after a cross from Diane Lovren in the 55th minute.

In the penalty shootout, goalkeeper Levakovic shone and saved three penalties before Mario Pasalic took the decisive penalty to win.

Croatia will play in the quarter-finals with the winner of today's match between Brazil and South Korea.

And to the cheers of the Japanese fans in the stands and the beating of drums, the "Samurai" continued its attacks, obtaining several opportunities to open the scoring after a corner kick that reached Ritsu Doan to pass from the right to the second post, where Yoshida passed it to Celtic's Scottish striker Daizen Maeda, who shot it with his strong left into the goalkeeper's net. Levakovic (43), to end the first half with the lead of the four-time Asian champions.

Perisic equalized the score with a wonderful header to the left of goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda, after a cross from Diane Lovren (55), in his tenth goal in a major competition in the World Cup or European Nations.

And the Croatian goalkeeper excelled in repelling a curled ball from outside the area, 20 meters away, for midfielder Wataru Endo (58).

Exhausted Modric came out and Lovro Meyer entered the first extra period (99), and the Japanese team almost took the lead with a shot by substitute Kaoru Mitoma, which found goalkeeper Levakovic on the lookout (105).

And the coach of Croatia took out the top scorer Perisic (106) at the start of the second extra period, as Japan was the most dangerous, so it threatened its opponent’s goal without shaking the net, and Meyer hit a last ball that passed by the left post.

The two teams resorted to penalty kicks, which favored Croatia, whose champion was goalkeeper Levakovic, who saved three kicks.

It is the third confrontation between the two teams in the World Cup. Croatia won 1-0 in 1998 and drew 0-0 in 2006 in the group stage.

To view an electronic supplement .. the World Cup teams, 

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