Croatia 2-1 Ghana: Sucic 31, Vlasic 83; Luckassen 73
Ghana thought they had secured a draw that would keep them in second place behind England in Group L following Derrick Luckassen’s second-half equaliser, but a late effort from Nikola Vlasic swung the tie back in favour of Croatia and the Baltic side instead leapfrogged the west Africans in the table.
Both sides were practically assured of a place in the knockouts even before the game, with similar levels of difficulty in terms of opponents, meaning that this was simply a battle for pride.
Croatia started well and their slick passing created openings in Ghana’s setup. At any rate, the African side were much more positive on the ball than they had been in their draw against England.
Nikola Vlasic rattled the upright in the early stages after being afforded space outside the penalty area, and this particular area would become a problem for Ghana. Indeed, Croatia soon got their goal just after the half-hour when Petar Sucic received the ball in space nearly 30 yards from goal. Ghana were caught on their heels and the midfielder had time to set up a shot that zipped into the bottom left corner of goal.
Ghana had some good moments with Antoine Semenyo threatening on both sides of the break, before Luckassen got the equaliser on minute 73. From a free-kick Ernest Nuamah curled an excellent ball into the penalty area and Luckassen showed good movement to run onto it and tap into the bottom right corner. The goal was first held up for offside but a VAR review showed the Ghana defender was onside.
The Africans were thrilled and seemed to be heading for a draw and a second-place finish but Croatia refused to give in. Mario Pasalic tested Ghana’s Benjamin Asare and forced the goalkeeper into a superb one-handed save. From the resulting corner Luka Modric sent an inviting ball in and Vlasic was able to glance it into the bottom corner beyond Asare.
