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Croatia marathoned their way into the round of 16, humilating Argentina to its heaviest World Cup group stage defeat since 1958, at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium of Thursday.
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Ante Rebic, Luca Modric and Ivan Rakitic were on target for Croatia, while Argentina were left to biting the dust with their advancement hopes hanging by thread, following the embarrassing 0-3 loss.
In a must-win situation after the disappointing 1-1 draw against Iceland in their opening encounter, head coach Jorge Sampaoli brought three changes in a tweaked 3-4-2-1 formation which meant for Argentina to be dominant on the ball and fast without it.
But it took just four minutes for Croatia to prove the decision wrong, when Ivan Perisic wreaked havoc on the right wing, drawing the entire Argentine defence towards him, before rifiling a shot on target that Willy Caballero somehow deviated for a corner. As if that was not enough, the two-time champions soon resorted to playing short passes inside their own box, inviting danger more often than not.
Poor with the ball at his feet, Caballero was vulnerable all night and nearly conceded in the 19th minute, when his tame pass to Nicolas Tagliafico was intercepted by striker Mario Mandzukic, who gave away a foul. But not learning from his mistake, the Chelsea custodian continued with the trend eventually conceding in the 53rd minute from a Rebic pile-driver.
As it had been for most of the match, Caballero received a back pass from Gabriel Mercado and with Rebic closing down the space, he decided to chip it back to centre-half only managing to slice the ball up perfectly for the Eintracht Frankfurt winger, who scored with a superb volley.
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The second goal came in the 80th minute and was perhaps the only moment of genius in the match and came from Luca Modric, who took up a loose ball and sliced the Argentine defence open before firing a shot way past the reach of Caballero, as Croatia went 2-0 up. Despite the damage being already done, ‘The Blazers‘ didn’t sit back and soon scored the third from a quick counter-attack.
After putting most of its man upfront in search for a goal, Argentina didn’t even try catching hold of Ivan Rakitic who ran all the way from his own box before seeing his first-time shot put away by Caballero, but only as far as Mateo Kovacic, who found the Barcelona man again for him slot the ball home.
Croatia however would be worried about their defence, which was in full chaos today and although Argentina failed to score a goal despite a handful of golden opportunities, coach Zlatko Dalić will know that other teams may not be such poor in finishing.
Messi went missing
If the penalty miss against Icelnad was an indication of the quiet World Cup Messi might have, today’s performance was an indication that he is actually having one. The ‘Little Magician‘ had 11 shots on goal against the Vikings but managed just one against Croatia, which came after Maximiliano Meza had received a wonderful cut back ball from Gonzalo Higuain, which was blocked by the Croats.
In fact by the time he had actually touched the ball in the opposition box, 64 minutes had passed by. It resulted in what will always be remembered as Argentina’s worst World Cup group stage defeat since 1958, when they lost 1-6 to Czechoslovakia.
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Their World Cup hopes have now shrunk and is out of their hands. Argentina next meet Nigeria on Tuesday and not just will they have to defeat the Africans but also hope Iceland lose points. The year 1974 in West Germany was the last time Argentina progressed to the knockout stages, even after failing to win their first two matches. Can they do it again will be known in five nights time.
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