Brazil’s journey to the World Cup is over, Argentina will face Croatia in the semi-finals

Argentina and Lionel Messi kept their FIFA World Cup dream alive in a thrilling encounter, beating the Netherlands four goals to three in a late night penalty shootout to book their place in the semi-finals. Argentina will now face the last edition’s runner-up, Croatia, who defeated title contenders Brazil in a penalty shoot-out in a crucial quarter-final match, thus ending Brazil’s journey to the World Cup.

Two-time champions Argentina took a two-goal lead in the second half, but Dutch substitute Wout Wieghorst scored two late goals for the Netherlands to take the game to extra time. Holland’s second goal came late in the 111th minute. The score remained level at 2-2 after 30 minutes of extra time, setting up a dramatic penalty shootout at the Lucille Stadium.

Argentina keeper Amy Martinez saved Holland’s first two penalties to give Argentina a 2-0 lead in the shootout as well. But Enzo Fernandez, who was supposed to take the fourth penalty, missed his penalty kick for Argentina, giving the Netherlands a glimmer of hope but Lautaro Martinez’s winner for Argentina. And with that, the Argentine team reached the semi-finals.

In the first quarter-final match, Croatia defeated five-time champions Brazil 2-4 in a penalty shoot-out in an exciting match and qualified for the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup 2022.

In the match played at the Education City Stadium, neither team could score a goal in the allotted time, after which the match went into extra time. Brazil’s Neymar scored the first goal in the 105th minute of extra time to give Brazil the lead, but Bruno Petkovic put the ball into the net in the 116th minute to bring Croatia back into the match.

Nikola Vlasic, Luvro Major, Luka Modric and Maslav Orsic scored for Croatia in the penalty shootout, while only Casemiro and Pedro scored for Brazil. Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Lukovic saved two Brazil attempts in the shootout. Brazil’s fourth penalty was taken by Marquinhos, whose target was flagged and Brazil was out of the World Cup.

Croatia pulled off a major upset at the FIFA World Cup 2022 by defeating Brazil in a penalty shootout in the first quarter-final. The score line was 2-4 in the penalty shootout. Brazil’s Rodrigo and Marcones missed the penalty. Croatia converted all four penalty goals early on. The scoreline remained 0-0 for 90 minutes. In extra time, both teams scored one goal each.

After a scoreless 90 minutes, the match went into extra time. Brazil’s Neymar scored in extra time. It was Neymar’s 77th international goal for Brazil. With this, he also equaled the legendary Pele’s 77 international goals.