Just A Few Things: Russia Vs. Croatia

A Hell Of A Keeper

Croatia’s victory was made all the more remarkable due to the condition of goalkeeper Daniel Subasic. A minute before the end of normal time, Subasic seemed to tear a hamstring muscle when he went to collect a ball. Croatia already made three subs so Subasic had to play on until full-time. Lovre Kalinic or Dominik Livakovic was touted to come on. Well, that was the plan at least had a few other players not be fatigued and the fourth sub was used to bring on veteran Vedran Corluka.

So Subasic had no choice to but to endure more pain for the sake of his team. More worry seeped in the Croatia camp when he seemed to jar his hamstring after collecting a Russia free-kick at the end of the first half of extra time. He can thank to his team’s medical staff for prolonging until the end of the shootout. But this match may be his last in the tournament as it’s likely he has accumulated damage on that hamstring as time went on.

Couldn’t Get More Dramatic

It was pretty much a drab match and yet at the same time can be considered as nerve-wrecking. Not because of the football that was played. Rather, it was because of three crucial moments. One of them was the before mentioned Subasic injury that made the match all the more tense (At least from Croatia’s perspective). But they initially won it when Domagoj Vida headed the corner in on 100 minutes.

Then, came the third moment. Alan Dzagoev whipped a free-kick by the edge of the box in and Mario Fernandes became the unlikely hero for Russia to head it in to force another penalty shoout-out. Russia missed two penalties despite Subasic’s condition (More on this next) while Mateo Kovacic saw his kick saved and Luka Modric must be the luckiest person in the world that time when his attempt was thought to be saved, but the ball first went off Igor Akinfeev’s touch, then it hit the inside of the post and finally went in. It then fell to Ivan Rakitic to take Croatia’s fifth kick and sent Akinfeev the wrong way to seal Croatia’s passage to the semi-finals.

K.I.S.S

When it comes to penalties, there are two things you need to get it perfectly if you’re the keeper: Power and placement. If you’re kicking, just remember these four words, keep it simple, stupid. It was clear two of Russia’s players haven’t got the memo or perhaps haven’t heard of the phrase in their native language. Fedor Smolov will go down as one of the idiotic penalty takers in history when his attempt of a ‘Panenka’ was easily saved by Subasic. Heck, it wasn’t even placed in the middle. Doubt it was a psychological factor if he’s that confident on doing that.

Mario Fernandes on the other hand turned from hero to villain when he went for power and all that was for nothing since his spot-kick was dragged wide. Maybe you couldn’t blame too much on Fernandes as it was his first shootout and thought that if he went for power, Subasic had no chance of saving even if he guessed the right way. At least Fernandes can learn from this mistake, but Smolov had to be guilty for his joke of an attempt.

Advantage England?

Croatia’s victory may have come at a cost. Not only facing the prospect of losing goalkeeper Subasic, but a few players also were fatigued having to endure 120 minutes of football twice in a row. Mario Mandzukic and Sime Vrsaljko, who was subbed off in extra time for Corluka, were the notable players that looked tired. It was a phyrric victory for Croatia and they face England next after such an energy-sapping game. England now should have no fear taking on Croatia in four days time.

On the other hand, Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic will have to rotate his squad and perhaps use the match against Iceland where he made sweeping changes to consider who to bring in while resting a few faces. After all, there has to be a reason why he bought them in the first place. Regardless, England shouldn’t let their guard down if they want to get into the final.

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