Croatia, vice-world champion in title, had to go through a penalty shootout to overcome Japan Monday in Doha and qualify for the quarter-finals of the World Cup.
The Japanese, on the heels of their unexpected success against Germany then Spain in the group stage, had opened the scoring at the end of the first half by Daizen Maeda, but Ivan Perisic brought his team up (55th) before the qualification is decided on penalties, during which Dominik Livakovic took out three Japanese attempts.
The Croats will face Friday for a place in the semi-finals the winner of the match between Brazil and South Korea, scheduled for the evening.
More details will follow.
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