Dominik Livakovic, Croatia goalkeeper and shots ace

full throttle

Livakovic’s new feat

There was Roberto Baggio in the final of the 1994 World Cup in Pasadena, there will now be Marquinhos on the lawn of the Education City stadium, in Al-Rayyan. The image of the last Brazilian shot on goal hit on the post by the defender will go down in history as one of the great failures of the World Cup. But it will be necessary to remember that this failure was caused by a man: Dominik Livakovic.

Celebrated as a hero by his partners after the victorious penalty shootout in the round of 16 against Japan (he had repelled three Japanese attempts during the fateful event), the 27-year-old Croatian goalkeeper again put on his savior costume in the quarter-finals, Friday, December 9, ahead of the great Brazil (1-1, 4-2 on tab).

Facing the most impressive attack line in the world, he first made multiple decisive parries in the game, allowing the Vatreni (“les flamboyants”) to go into overtime. After 16 repelled attempts, Neymar finally found the fault by dribbling him just before the extra time break.

Dominik Livakovic could have been a magnificent loser, but Bruno Petkovic’s unexpected equalizer sent both teams into the most dramatic part of football: penalties. And in this game, the checkered team has an ace.

Livakovic parried Rodrygo’s first attempt, he then dived on the right side, in vain, in front of Casemiro’s… Then came this first match point. Ironically, the keeper went to his left when Marquinhos chose the other side, crossing his attempt too much by a few centimeters.

hot in front

Morocco-Portugal and France-England

The day after the qualifications of Croatia and Argentina for the last four, place, Saturday, December 10, in the last two quarter-finals, in the other part of the table. Starting with the unexpected poster at this stage of the competition between Morocco and Portugal (at 4 p.m.), at the Al-Thumama stadium in Doha.

This is the first time in their history that the Atlas Lions have reached the quarter-finals of a World Cup. Fallers of Spain on penalties in the previous round (0-0, 3-0 on pens), Walid Regragui’s players can write a new page of history by becoming the first selection from the African continent to reach the semi-finals. tournament finals.

But Portugal, 6-1 winners of Switzerland in the round of 16, are a formidable opponent. Even more without Cristiano Ronaldo? The question is on all the lips of the Lusitanian supporters. The team superstar was on the bench against Switzerland. Previously, he had gone through the first round without scoring or delivering an assist.

In the wake of this meeting will take place the last quarter-final between France and England, at 8 p.m., at the Al-Bayt stadium, in Al-Khor. The Blues and the Three Lions have faced each other 33 times since 1923 and their only two meetings in the World Cup, in 1966 and 1982, each time in the first round, turned to the advantage of the English.

Led by a “record” Olivier Giroud and a decisive Kylian Mbappé in the eighth round, Didier Deschamps’ players this time face an opponent of higher standing than the previous ones: the reigning European vice-champion, who easily disposed of of Senegal (3-0). Faced with an England that relies on “a good mix between old and young”the tricolor captain Hugo Lloris expects “a great battle”. For Arsene Wengerwho coached the Arsenal club for more than two decades, this poster is nothing less than “the final before the hour”.

Quicksands

“If the French are world champions and invite me, I want to sing for them to celebrate”

After their victory against Poland in the round of 16 of the World Cup, the players of the France team had shaken the walls of the locker room singing the chorus of “Freed from Desire” (“Free from Desire”), the hit of the Italian singer Gala.

The interested party is ready to come and play it in liveon December 18, if the Blues win a third star. “It’s not just the song of the winners, it’s that of the underdogs too”specifies Gala to AFP, citing this time when his 1996 hit was sung “at the same time by supporters of two Australian rugby teams who are supposed to hate each other”.

In 2016, the track “ which speaks of energy and resilience” was already an anthem in the Euro football stadiums in France, after his cover went viral to the glory of Will Grigg – a Northern Irish striker who had nevertheless remained on the substitutes’ bench throughout the tournament.

Grain of sand

6

For the sixth time in a row in the World Cup, Brazil were knocked out of the knockout phase by a European team. After France in the quarter-finals in 2006, the Netherlands in the quarter-finals in 2010, Germany in the semi-finals in 2014 and Belgium in the quarter-finals in 2018, it was Croatia who defeated the Seleçao in the quarter of the 2022 edition. The last time Brazil won against a team from the Old Continent in the final table? It was June 30, 2002, the day of his fifth planetary coronation, against Germany, in Yokohama, Japan.