Croatia are still in the race for their first title after dominating the Netherlands (4-2 after extra time) in the semi-finals of the Nations League, overcoming an equalizer at the last second of regulation time, Wednesday in Rotterdam. An iron mind. Not beaten down by the goal of Noa Lang (90 + 6), the “Vatreni” (the “Ardents”) regained the advantage in extra time by Bruno Petkovic (98), then on a penalty from Luka Modric (116 on penalty) .
They will play Sunday against Italy or Spain, who face each other Thursday in Enschede, to finally win gold, after silver (2018) and bronze (1998, 2022) world. Coach Zlatko Dalic wanted “a medal”, he is sure to bring one back, the third for him, in office since 2017, but this time his captain Modric would like to lift the cup. The brilliant 37-year-old leader, who may be living his last moments with the checkered jersey (he didn’t want to talk about it the day before the match), enjoyed it again, he got the penalty for the equalizer at 1 -1, converted by Andrej Kramaric.
Petkovic still a hero
The Real Madrid player stole a poorly controlled ball from Cody Gakpo in his area, the Dutch top scorer at the World Cup (3 goals) did not see Modric and hung him. The Croatian genius also delivered a pass from outside, his signature, for Luka Perisic who hit just above. On the 3-2 goal, he shifted Petkovic, already hero of the quarter-final against Brazil in Qatar, where he had equalized in the 117th minute (iron mental), before Croatia won on penalties goal (1-1, 4 shots on goal to 2). Finally he folded the match on penalty.
And this team has a future: if Modric is getting old, Luka Ivanousec seems to embody the future. The Dinamo Zagreb player who had already caused quite a bit of damage in the Dutch defense on his left side made it 2-1, patiently waiting for the best moment to deliver the assist to Mario Pasalic. Victory smiled on the best team, the most enterprising too. The Netherlands had scored by Donyell Malen in a first half rather to the advantage of white checkers.
Around 10,000 Croatian supporters
On this “oranje” goal Malen was cleverly offset by Mats Wieffer, but the pass that broke the Croatian line came from Nathan Aké, European champion on Saturday with Manchester City. On the equalizer at the last second, in the same goal where Sylvain Wiltord had saved the Euro 2000 final the French team against Italy, Noa Lang took advantage of a mess in front of Dominik Livakovic’s goal to find the nets and make the “Bathtub” (De Kuip) roar, where the almost 10,000 Croatian supporters largely dominated the singing competition.
But that was not enough, Petkovic, who entered for extra time in place of Josip Sutalo, a central defender, restored the advantage to his side with a deaf strike. On his shot, Justin Biljow, the local Feyenoord goalkeeper, established by Ronald Koeman still looking for a number 1 goalkeeper, seemed helpless.
But the “Oranjes” also have a striker problem in addition to that of goalkeeper. Lang, a short-lived “Wiltordian” hero, sent a 3-3 ball into the side netting, and Koeman’s team got too few chances. The Netherlands had not lost in their lair of Rotterdam since October 11, 2000 (2-0 against Portugal), will not play the final.