Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.
Luka Modric has become the oldest player to record an assist at the World Cup as Croatia defeated Ghana 2-1 to finish second in Group L.
After Derrick Luckassen cancelled out Petar Sucic’s opener for Croatia, Modric’s corner was headed in by Nikola Vlasic with seven minutes to go as Zlatko Dalic’s side leapfrogged their opponents into second, with Ghana ending the group stage in third.
After neither side managed a shot in the opening 15 minutes, Croatia started to click into gear as Vlasic struck the left post with an attempt from distance before Ivan Perisic’s header was comfortably saved by Benjamin Asare.
The breakthrough eventually came just after the half-hour mark through Sucic, who picked out the bottom-left corner from outside the box following a clever move from Mateo Kovacic.
Ghana’s only shot in the first half came through Antoine Semenyo, who fired narrowly wide of the post from a tight angle, while Abdul Fatawu’s long-range strike flew over the bar after the break.
The Black Stars controlled proceedings after the break, however, and found their leveller in the 73rd minute as Luckassen side-footed past Dominik Livakovic from Ernest Nuamah’s brilliant free-kick.
The equaliser seemed to wake Croatia up, and Mario Pasalic saw a fierce shot tipped over the bar by Asare, only for Vlasic to head in from the resulting corner and clinch all three points.
Write Croatia off at your own peril
Despite finishing second and third, respectively, at the last two World Cups, Croatia were seen as a team who were past their best, especially after their opening defeat to England at this year’s edition.
However, as they often do time and time again, Croatia have proved they cannot be taken lightly, bouncing back from that loss to the Three Lions with back-to-back wins and securing second place in the group.
Not much more needs to be said about Modric, who created a match-high four chances while recording the most touches (102) and accurate passes (82) of any player, with his assist, at 40 years and 291 days, putting him into the history books.
Martin Baturina did much of the dirty work, as the Como midfielder won the most duels of any Croatia player (eight), while also recovering possession most often for his side (six) and drawing the most fouls (five).
As things stand, Croatia are set to face Portugal in the round of 32, and Ghana, who have secured progression despite their defeat, will go up against Colombia, though they could switch opponents depending on the outcome of Portugal’s clash with Colombia later on.
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