Canada was eliminated from the World Cup after only two games, although once again contributing to an entertaining match that Croatia won 4-1 at Khalifa International Stadium.
What happened in the game?
Canada returned to the finals after a 36-year absence, as they blew out Belgium in their first game.
On Sunday, it appeared to be a similar story, though Croatia was ultimately deserving winners after two goals from Andrej Kramaric and one each from Marko Livaja and Lovro Majer overturned a Canada lead.
Alphonso Davies’ goal was his country’s first at a World Cup, but it was Croatia’s fifth defeat in five on the global stage, effectively ending their hopes of progress as Croatia joins Morocco on four points in Group F.
The wait for a game-changing goal ended only 67 seconds into Canada’s sixth finals match, with Davies meeting Tajon Buchanan’s cross to head the tournament’s fastest goal thus far.
Croatia quickly gained control, and after Milan Borjan denied Livaja twice either side of a disallowed Kramaric goal, two goals before halftime flipped the game on its head.Borjan had no response for Kramaric, who scored again, and Livaja scored with a low effort from the edge of the box.
John Herdman’s men came out for the second half with fresh vigour and went close through substitutes Jonathan Osorio and Jonathan David, but Kramaric continued to threaten and clinically slotted the ball into the bottom-left corner to seal the deal.
Croatia had time to add gloss when Kamal Miller miscontrolled on halfway, giving Mislav Orsic an open run to advance and square to Majer.
Next fixtures
Canada is out, but they can still have an impact on the rest of the group, as they face Morocco on Thursday, while Croatia plays Belgium in a winner-take-all match.
