Croatia qualifies for the World Cup in Russia-2018

The Croatian team confirmed their 4-1 lead from the first leg and qualified for the World Cup in Russia-2018 after a goalless draw against Greece, this Sunday in the second leg of the European play-offs played in Athens.

This will be the fifth time Croatia participates in a World Cup since becoming an independent country in 1991, with their most notable achievement being the third place in France 1998.

After the result in Zagreb last Thursday, the Greeks were looking for an early goal to get back into the tie and tried with long-range shots from Anastasios Bakasetas (13) and Sokratis Papastathopoulos (18), but in both cases the ball went wide of the goal defended by Danijel Subasic.

Croatia tried to defend with the ball to keep the Greeks away from their goal, although they also did not pose a threat to the Greek goal, except for a shot by Ivan Perisic that hit the post (28).

The match livened up in the last moments of the first half, first with a Greek attack in which Subasic took the ball away from Panagiotis Restos when the forward could have had a clear shot (41), and shortly after the Croatians responded with a left-footed shot from outside the box by Perisic that hit the post of Orestis Karnezis (43).

After the break, the situation hardly changed. The Croatians managed to control the match and the only danger the Greeks created was with long-range shots, like the one attempted by Kostas Mitroglou that went wide (59).

After an hour, the Greek team seemed to realize that a miracle would not be possible and lowered their level of pressure against the Croatians who felt very comfortable defending.

Captain Vasilis Torosidis scored a goal that could have added some excitement to the final minutes of the match, but the referee disallowed it for offside of the teammate who assisted him (78).

And the Greeks bid farewell without even being able to secure an honorary victory.