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That's it, lads. It's not coming home. But hey, it was a great ride. In a game that went all the way down to the wire, the sheer fight that Croatia put up survived England's show of heart.
After Trippier put them ahead as early as the 5th minute with a spectacular freekick, it most definitely looked like it was coming home. England were moving the ball around with comfort and the Croats looked a bit weary. However, the second half was an entirely different story.
Ivan Perisic restored parity in the 68th minute with an acrobatic finish at the end of a sumptuous cross from Vrsaljko. Perisic subsequently hit the post after doing ever so well to create some space for himself inside the box.
The game dragged on into extra time and it looked like it was heading to penalties until Perisic's freak headed pass was read, picked up and dispatched by the experienced campaigner up top, Mario Mandzukic.
England couldn't muster a response until the final whistle and they fell to their knees having come so close. Anyway, let's look at the 3 reasons why England lost 2-1 to Croatia.
#3 England did not take their chances in the first half
England were, once again, fluid in attack from the get-go. Lingard's movement was causing panic at the back for Croatia and Raheem Sterling's bursts of pace were proving to be too hot to handle. And England kept creating chances after Kieran Tripper put them ahead.
Harry Kane was neatly set up inside the box by Jesse Lingard but the striker failed to bury the ball inside the post in 2 attempts- the second, an almost open goal miss albeit from an acute angle.
It was Jesse Lingard's turn next. England benefitted from Dele Alli's excellent hold-up play which caused 3 Croatian defenders to be dragged towards him, thereby opening up space for Lingard at the edge of the area.
Alli squared the ball to Lingard and from that distance, you'd think it's bread and butter for the Manchester United star, but he snatched at it and sent the ball to the advertisement hoardings instead.
Had England taken these chances, they'd have kicked Croatia out of the game and put things beyond doubt. However, they didn't and it came to bite them in the back.
#2 England's defence showed inexperience
Credit where it's due, Stones, Walker and Maguire have been formidable at the back. However, England were forced to have the rare experience of having to deal with relentless attacking. Colombia did take the game to England and at times, the backline did look shaky.
When the Croats upped the ante in the second half, England started to look panicky at the back. Suddenly, Harry Maguire was hurrying his clearances, Walker's backpasses were underweighted and Stones was having issues communicating with Pickford.
Though the two goals that went in should be credited to Croatia's ability rather than England's lack of it, the defenders will know that they would have had it easier against the Croats if they'd remained calm and sure-footed during the tough latter half of the game.
Perisic reacted ahead of Trippier and Walker for the first and Mandzukic did it for the second. The defenders would definitely not want to watch those goals again.
#1 Came second in extra-time to nearly everything
These Croatians can run and run and run and... Man, they've played 90 minutes more than any other team. So effectively, they have played an extra football game altogether and yet look hungry for more.
Hear this, Croatia did not make a single substitution until extra-time despite playing 120 minutes each against Denmark and Russia. Zlatko Dalic used his substitutions cleverly and with players like Luka Modric who would rather barf his heart out onto the field than have his opponents run over it, Croatia were better prepared for the final half an hour than their opponents.
Though England also had the opportunity to make 3 subs late into the game, only one- Jamie Vardy's introduction- was a truly positive change and that came after England were already chasing the game, deep into the second half of extra time.
Pivaric who was brought on for Strinic played a good hand in keeping the ball away from the Englishmen. In truth, once the game went beyond normal time, England were playing in Croatia's yard and the Croats showed enough quality- thanks to their experience there or not- and came out on top.
