Croatia defeat Panama as Modric earns 200th cap | OneFootball

Croatia weren't at their best in Toronto but did enough to stay alive in the World Cup. The Croatians faced a valiant Panama but emerged with the all-important three points.

Croatia went beyond pragmatism in the first half and practically didn't trouble the Panamanian team. With the exception of a long-range shot from Martin Baturina, the European team had unproductive possession and practically didn't build up attacks.

Completing 200 games in a Croatian shirt, the forty-year-old Luka Modric only made history in terms of numbers. On the field, the number 10 was discreet and even made mistakes that almost complicated his team's life.

On the other side, the Panamanians showed courage, managing to speed up the game at many moments, especially with Cristian Martínez on the right wing, but lacked precision in finishing in the final third.

After the break, more of the same. Despite Dalic's substitutions, which brought on the duo of Ante Budimir and Andrej Kramaric, Croatia remained predictable with the ball and needed a moment of technical brilliance to take the lead.

In the 54th minute, after a rare moment of combination play on the right flank, Josip Stanisic exchanged passes with Marco Pasalic, who beautifully returned the ball with a backheel, carried it to the byline and crossed perfectly for Budimir, who surged behind the defence and finished into the back of the net.

With great courage, Panama launched an attack in search of an equaliser, found spaces but were stopped by a wall named Dominik Livakovic. The Croatian goalkeeper, voted the best in his position at the 2018 World Cup, was immense and made some excellent saves from shots by Amir Murillo and Carlos Harvey, securing a narrow lead for the Europeans.

With this result, Zlatko Dalic's recovers from their opening defeat to England, earns their first three points and will fight for qualification in the final round against Ghana. On the other side, Panamanians, without a single point, are mathematically eliminated from the Cup.

Incidents: The story of the match

1':

The match begins

54':

GOAL Croatia: Ante Budimir (Croatia) scores!

Ante Budimir scores goal number 1 in the competition (1 matches)

90 +5':

The referee whistles for the end of the match

Melhor em campo:

Martin Baturina (CRO) is the oficial Man of the Match