Croatia at the 2014 FIFA World Cup

Croatia participated in the 2014 FIFA World Cup. This was their fourth appearance.

Qualifying

Croatia was in Group A of UEFA's World Cup qualifications. They played alongside Belgium, Serbia, Scotland, Wales and Macedonia. Croatia finished as runner-up in the group and entered the Second Round play-offs where the team beat Iceland and qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Croatia national team was led by manager Igor Štimac until October 16, 2013 when he was, due to of a series of bad results, replaced by Niko Kovač.[1]

The complete results of the Group Stage

7 September 2012
20:15 UTC+2
Croatia  1–0  Macedonia
Jelavić  69' Report
Stadion Maksimir, Zagreb
Attendance: 13,883
Referee: Alon Yefet (Israel)

11 September 2012
20:45 UTC+2
Belgium  1–1  Croatia
Gillet  45+1' Report Perišić  6'

12 October 2012
20:30 UTC+2
Macedonia  1–2  Croatia
Ibraimi  16' Report Ćorluka  33'
Rakitić  60'
Philip II Arena, Skopje
Attendance: 25,230
Referee: Peter Rasmussen (Denmark)

16 October 2012
20:00 UTC+2
Croatia  2–0  Wales
Mandžukić  27'
Eduardo  57'		 Report
Stadion Gradski vrt, Osijek
Attendance: 17,500
Referee: Alexandru Tudor (Romania)

22 March 2013
18:00 UTC+1
Croatia  2–0  Serbia
Mandžukić  23'
Olić  37'		 Report
Stadion Maksimir, Zagreb
Attendance: 35,722
Referee: Cüneyt Çakır (Turkey)

26 March 2013
19:45 UTC±0
Wales  1–2  Croatia
Bale  21' (pen.) Report Lovren  77'
Eduardo  87'
Liberty Stadium, Swansea
Attendance: 12,534
Referee: Luca Banti (Italy)

7 June 2013
20:15 UTC+2
Croatia  0–1  Scotland
Report Snodgrass  26'

6 September 2013
20:45 UTC+2
Serbia  1–1  Croatia
Mitrović  66' Report Mandžukić  53'
Stadion Crvena Zvezda, Belgrade
Attendance: 30,000
Referee: Felix Brych (Germany)

11 October 2013
18:00 UTC+2
Croatia  1–2  Belgium
Kranjčar  84' Report Lukaku  16', 38'
Stadion Maksimir, Zagreb
Attendance: 13,000
Referee: Howard Webb (England)

15 October 2013
20:00 UTC+1
Scotland  2–0  Croatia
Snodgrass  28'
Naismith  73'		 Report
Hampden Park, Glasgow
Attendance: 30,172
Referee: Ovidiu Hațegan (Romania)

The final standings were the following:

Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Belgium 10 8 2 0 18 4 +1426
 Croatia 10 5 2 3 12 9 +317
 Serbia 10 4 2 4 18 11 +714
 Scotland 10 3 2 5 8 12 −411
 Wales 10 3 1 6 9 20 −1110
 Macedonia 10 2 1 7 7 16 −97

Croatia qualified for the Second Round where they eliminated Iceland with a 2-0 aggregate score after a two-round play-off series.

15 November 2013
19:00 UTC±0
Iceland  0–0  Croatia
Report

19 November 2013
20:15 UTC+1
Croatia  2–0  Iceland
Mandžukić  27'
Srna  47'		 Report
Stadion Maksimir, Zagreb
Attendance: 22,612
Referee: Björn Kuipers (Netherlands)

Players

Stipe Pletikosa and Mario Mandžukić are the only players that appeared in all 12 qualifying matches. Further more Pletikosa played the full 90 minutes of all the matches while Mandžukić was the top scorer with 4 achieved goal.

Complete list of players in the qualifying matches

# Name Games Played Goals
1 Mario Mandžukić 12 4
Stipe Pletikosa 12 0
3 Darijo Srna 11 1
4 Ivan Perišić 10 1
Luka Modrić 10 0
6 Vedran Ćorluka 9 1
Ivan Rakitić 9 1
Ivan Strinić [2] 9 0
Josip Šimunić[3] 9 0
10 Eduardo 7 2
Dejan Lovren 7 1
Ivica Olić 7 1
Ognjen Vukojević 7 0
14 Nikica Jelavić 6 1
Niko Kranjčar[4] 6 1
Mateo Kovačić 6 0
Domagoj Vida 6 0
18 Nikola Kalinić 5 0
19 Gordon Schildenfeld 4 0
20 Milan Badelj 3 0
Sammir 3 0
22 Danijel Pranjić 2 0
Ante Rebić 2 0
24 Leon Benko 1 0
Ivo Iličević 1 0
Josip Radošević 1 0
Šime Vrsaljko 1 0
Player was not selected for the 2014 FIFA World Cup squad

World Cup preparation

The Croatian national team's World Cup camp was in luxurious Tivoli Ecoresort near Praia do Forte and Mata de São João in Bahia.[5]

The team three friendly matches before the tournament

Draw

Croatia was drawn into Group A. Croatia's opponents in the first stage were Brazil, Cameroon and Mexico. The match between the Brazil and Croatia opened the World Cup tournament.

2014 World Cup squad

Coach: Niko Kovač

The final squad was announced on 31 May 2014.[6] With less than 48 hours until the opening game against Brazil, Milan Badelj was called up to replace the injured Ivan Močinić, after having previously been excluded from the final squad.[7]

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Club
1 1GK Stipe Pletikosa (1979-01-08)8 January 1979 (aged 35) 111 Russia Rostov
2 2DF Šime Vrsaljko (1992-01-10)10 January 1992 (aged 22) 7 Italy Genoa
3 2DF Danijel Pranjić (1981-12-02)2 December 1981 (aged 32) 50 Greece Panathinaikos
4 3MF Ivan Perišić (1989-02-02)2 February 1989 (aged 25) 29 Germany VfL Wolfsburg
5 2DF Vedran Ćorluka (1986-02-05)5 February 1986 (aged 28) 72 Russia Lokomotiv Moscow
6 2DF Dejan Lovren (1989-07-05)5 July 1989 (aged 24) 25 England Southampton
7 3MF Ivan Rakitić (1988-03-10)10 March 1988 (aged 26) 62 Spain Sevilla[8]
8 3MF Ognjen Vukojević (1983-12-20)20 December 1983 (aged 30) 55 Ukraine Dynamo Kyiv
9 4FW Nikica Jelavić (1985-08-27)27 August 1985 (aged 28) 33 England Hull City
10 3MF Luka Modrić (1985-09-09)9 September 1985 (aged 28) 75 Spain Real Madrid
11 2DF Darijo Srna (c) (1982-05-01)1 May 1982 (aged 32) 112 Ukraine Shakhtar Donetsk
12 1GK Oliver Zelenika (1993-05-14)14 May 1993 (aged 21) 0 Croatia Lokomotiva[9]
13 2DF Gordon Schildenfeld (1985-03-18)18 March 1985 (aged 29) 21 Greece Panathinaikos[10]
14 3MF Marcelo Brozović (1992-10-16)16 October 1992 (aged 21) 1 Croatia Dinamo Zagreb
15 3MF Milan Badelj (1989-02-25)25 February 1989 (aged 25) 9 Germany Hamburger SV
16 4FW Ante Rebić (1993-09-21)21 September 1993 (aged 20) 5 Italy Fiorentina
17 4FW Mario Mandžukić (1986-05-21)21 May 1986 (aged 28) 50 Germany Bayern Munich[11]
18 4FW Ivica Olić (1979-09-14)14 September 1979 (aged 34) 92 Germany VfL Wolfsburg
19 3MF Sammir (1987-04-23)23 April 1987 (aged 27) 6 Spain Getafe
20 3MF Mateo Kovačić (1994-05-06)6 May 1994 (aged 20) 10 Italy Internazionale
21 2DF Domagoj Vida (1989-04-29)29 April 1989 (aged 25) 23 Ukraine Dynamo Kyiv
22 4FW Eduardo (1983-02-25)25 February 1983 (aged 31) 63 Ukraine Shakhtar Donetsk
23 1GK Danijel Subašić (1984-10-27)27 October 1984 (aged 29) 6 France AS Monaco

Team captain: Darijo Srna

Matches

Round Robin

Standings

Legend
Group winners and runners-up advanced to the round of 16
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Brazil (H) 3 2 1 0 7 2 +5 7 Advance to knockout stage
2  Mexico 3 2 1 0 4 1 +3 7
3  Croatia 3 1 0 2 6 6 0 3
4  Cameroon 3 0 0 3 1 9 −8 0
Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Tie-breaking criteria
(H) Host.

Matches

Brazil vs Croatia

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brazil vs Croatia.

The two teams had met in two previous matches, including in the 2006 FIFA World Cup group stage, won by Brazil 1–0.[12] Croatia forward Mario Mandžukić was suspended for the match, after being sent off in the team's final qualifier against Iceland.[13]

Croatia opened the scoring through a Marcelo own goal, as the ball bounced off him into the net after Nikica Jelavić deflected Ivica Olić's cross.[14] Neymar equalised for the hosts with a 25-yard (23 m) shot after receiving a pass from Oscar.[15] In the second half, Brazil took the lead with Neymar's penalty after Dejan Lovren was judged to have fouled Fred in the penalty area.[15] Croatia had a potential equaliser disallowed, after a foul was called on the Brazilian goalkeeper, Júlio César.[16][17][18] In added time, Oscar sealed the win, toe-poking the third goal for Brazil from 22 yards (20 m) after receiving a pass from Ramires.[15]

Post-match, FIFA referees chief, Massimo Busacca, defended the officials for awarding the penalty, and insisted there had been some contact between Lovren and Fred even if it was minimal.[19] On the other hand, renowned former top-level FIFA referee Markus Merk criticised FIFA for having Yuichi Nishimura as the referee in the opening match, labelling the refereeing in the match as "embarrassing".[20]

The game was notable for a number of pioneering events. This was the first occasion in FIFA World Cup history on which an own goal (which was also the first ever own goal scored by Brazil in World Cup finals) opened scoring in the tournament. As the first game played at this World Cup, the match also saw the first use of vanishing spray to mark free kick spots, and the advent of goal-line technology, two innovations introduced during the tournament.[21]

12 June 2014
17:00 UTC−3
Brazil  3–1  Croatia
Neymar  29', 71' (pen.)
Oscar  90+1'		 Report Marcelo  11' (o.g.)
Brazil
Croatia
GK 12Júlio César
RB 2 Dani Alves
CB 3 Thiago Silva (c)
CB 4 David Luiz
LB 6 Marcelo
DM 8 Paulinho  63'
DM 17Luiz Gustavo  88'
RW 7 Hulk  68'
AM 11Oscar
LW 10Neymar  27'  88'
CF 9 Fred
Substitutions:
MF 18Hernanes  63'
MF 20Bernard  68'
MF 16Ramires  88'
Manager:
Luiz Felipe Scolari
GK 1 Stipe Pletikosa
RB 11Darijo Srna (c)
CB 5 Vedran Ćorluka  65'
CB 6 Dejan Lovren  69'
LB 2 Šime Vrsaljko
CM 10Luka Modrić
CM 7 Ivan Rakitić
RW 4 Ivan Perišić
AM 20Mateo Kovačić  61'
LW 18Ivica Olić
CF 9 Nikica Jelavić  78'
Substitutions:
MF 14Marcelo Brozović  61'
FW 16Ante Rebić  78'
 
Manager:
Niko Kovač

Man of the Match:
Neymar (Brazil)[22]

Assistant referees:
Toru Sagara (Japan)
Toshiyuki Nagi (Japan)
Fourth official:
Alireza Faghani (Iran)
Fifth official:
Hassan Kamranifar (Iran)

Cameroon vs Croatia

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cameroon vs Croatia.

The two teams had never met before.[23]

In a match where both teams needed at least a point to stay alive in the competition, Croatia opened scoring when Ivica Olić scored from close range from Ivan Perišić's pass. Just before half time, Cameroon was reduced to 10 men when Alex Song was dismissed for an off the ball incident with Mario Mandžukić. Perišić scored at the beginning of the second half when he intercepted Cameroonian goalkeeper Charles Itandje's goal kick and ran 50 yards before slotting in at the near post. Mandžukić scored the last two goals, the first a header from Danijel Pranjić's corner and the second a tap in after Itandje parried Eduardo's shot into his path.[24] The result confirmed Cameroon's elimination from the tournament.

In a case of infighting, Cameroonian defender Benoît Assou-Ekotto was caught on camera head-butting teammate Benjamin Moukandjo.[25][26] Song later apologised to Mandžukić and his country for his ejection, while Cameroonian coach Volker Finke said he was very disappointed with their performance.[27][28][29]

On 1 July 2014, Cameroon officials announced that they had opened an investigation on claims that seven of the Cameroon's players were involved in fixing the result.[30][31] However, FIFA said there was no evidence that there were any match fixing in any of Cameroon's matches.[32]

Olić, who previously scored a goal in the 2002 World Cup, became the second player to have a 12-year gap between World Cup goals, after Michael Laudrup in 1986 and 1998.[33] Mandžukić became the first Croatian player to score a brace in a World Cup game. The 4–0 scoreline was also the biggest win by Croatia in the World Cup.[34]

18 June 2014
18:00 UTC−4
Cameroon  0–4  Croatia
Report Olić  11'
Perišić  48'
Mandžukić  61', 73'
Arena da Amazônia, Manaus
Attendance: 39,982
Referee: Pedro Proença (Portugal)
Cameroon
Croatia
GK 16Charles Itandje
RB 17Stéphane Mbia
CB 14Aurélien Chedjou  46'
CB 3 Nicolas N'Koulou (c)
LB 2 Benoît Assou-Ekotto
DM 21Joël Matip
CM 6 Alex Song Red card 40'
CM 18Eyong Enoh
RW 13Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting  75'
LW 8 Benjamin Moukandjo
CF 10Vincent Aboubakar  70'
Substitutions:
DF 5 Dany Nounkeu  46'
FW 15Pierre Webó  70'
MF 20Edgar Salli  75'
Manager:
Germany Volker Finke
GK 1 Stipe Pletikosa
RB 11Darijo Srna (c)
CB 5 Vedran Ćorluka
CB 6 Dejan Lovren
LB 3 Danijel Pranjić
CM 10Luka Modrić
CM 7 Ivan Rakitić
RW 4 Ivan Perišić  78'
AM 19Sammir  72'
LW 18Ivica Olić  69'
CF 17Mario Mandžukić
Substitutions:
FW 22Eduardo  89'  69'
MF 20Mateo Kovačić  72'
FW 16Ante Rebić  78'
Manager:
Niko Kovač

Man of the Match:
Mario Mandžukić (Croatia)

Assistant referees:
Bertino Cunha (Portugal)
Tiago Trigo (Portugal)
Fourth official:
Walter López (Guatemala)
Fifth official:
Leonel Leal (Costa Rica)

Croatia vs Mexico

The two teams had met in three previous matches, including in the 2002 FIFA World Cup group stage, won by Mexico 1–0.[35]

Coming into the final round of matches, Croatia needed to win to guarantee qualification to the knockout stage regardless of the result of Cameroon vs Brazil, while Mexico only needed a draw to do so. The game was goalless for the first 70 minutes, until a Héctor Herrera corner to the back post allowed Rafael Márquez to score from a header, outleaping the Croatian defenders.[36] With Croatia progressing only by way of a win, they were caught out on a break a short time later where Andrés Guardado scored after receiving a pass from Oribe Peralta. Mexico scored their third goal when Márquez flicked on Guardado's corner with substitute Javier Hernández scoring at the back post. Ivan Perišić scored in his second consecutive World Cup match after a neat back pass from Ivan Rakitić to get a consolation goal for Croatia in the closing minutes of the game, before Croatia's Ante Rebić was sent off for a foul on Carlos Peña.[37] Mexico qualified as group runners-up (behind Brazil on goal difference) on virtue of the win, while Croatia were eliminated.

With his goal, Márquez joined Cuauhtémoc Blanco as the only Mexican player to score in three World Cups.[38]

23 June 2014
17:00 UTC−3
Croatia  1–3  Mexico
Perišić  87' Report Márquez  72'
Guardado  75'
Hernández  82'
Arena Pernambuco, Recife
Attendance: 41,212
Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan)
Croatia
Mexico
GK 1 Stipe Pletikosa
RB 11Darijo Srna (c)
CB 5 Vedran Ćorluka
CB 6 Dejan Lovren
LB 2 Šime Vrsaljko  58'
CM 7 Ivan Rakitić  9'
CM 3 Danijel Pranjić  74'
RW 4 Ivan Perišić
AM 10Luka Modrić
LW 18Ivica Olić  69'
CF 17Mario Mandžukić
Substitutions:
MF 20Mateo Kovačić  58'
FW 16Ante Rebić Red card 89'  69'
FW 9 Nikica Jelavić  74'
Manager:
Niko Kovač
GK 13Guillermo Ochoa
CB 2 Francisco Rodríguez
CB 4 Rafael Márquez (c)  39'
CB 15Héctor Moreno
RWB22Paul Aguilar
LWB7 Miguel Layún
DM 23José Juan Vázquez  66'
CM 6 Héctor Herrera
CM 18Andrés Guardado  84'
SS 10Giovani dos Santos  62'
CF 19Oribe Peralta  79'
Substitutions:
FW 14Javier Hernández  62'
MF 21Carlos Peña  79'
MF 8 Marco Fabián  84'
Manager:
Miguel Herrera

Man of the Match:
Rafael Márquez (Mexico)

Assistant referees:
Abdukhamidullo Rasulov (Uzbekistan)
Bakhadyr Kochkarov (Kyrgyzstan)
Fourth official:
Néant Alioum (Cameroon)
Fifth official:
Djibril Camara (Senegal)

References

  1. ↑ "Kovač replaces Štimac as Croatia coach". UEFA. October 16, 2013. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  2. ↑ Strinić was recovering from injury during the World Cup tournament. "Ivan Strinic to miss World Cup for Croatia after failing to recover from hamstring injury". Daily Mail. 24 May 2014. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  3. ↑ Šimunić was banned from playing in 10 official matches by FIFA because of a Nazi salute after the Croatia - Iceland match on 19 November 2013 "Josip Simunic to miss World Cup 2014 as Croatia defender loses appeal against 10-match ban for fascist salute". Daily Mail. 26 May 2014. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  4. ↑ Kranjčar was recovering from an injury during the World Cup tournament "Niko Kranjcar ruled out of the World Cup after suffering injury in QPR's play-off win". Daily Mail. 12 May 2014. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  5. ↑ "Na zadovoljstvo izbornika: HNS potvrdio Tivoli Ecoresort za kamp reprezentacije" (in Croatian). Croatian Football Federation. December 18, 2013. Retrieved October 21, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Kovač objavio putnike za Brazil: Otpali Čop, Bubnjić, Pašalić i Badelj! Močinić ide na SP! - SP 2014". Index.hr. 31 May 2014. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  7. ↑ "BADELJ RECEIVES LAST-MINUTE CROATIA CALL-UP". Bundeliga. 11 June 2014. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  8. ↑ Rakitić joined FC Barcelona after the tournament. "Agreement for Ivan Rakitic to join FC Barcelona". FC Barcelona. FC Barcelona. 16 June 2014. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  9. ↑ Zelenika was on loan at Lokomotiva from Dinamo Zagreb.
  10. ↑ Schildenfeld was on loan at Panathanaikos from Dynamo Moscow.
  11. ↑ Mandžukić joined Atlético Madrid following the tournament. "Mandzukic is now an Atlético". clubatleticodemadrid.com. Atlético de Madrid. 10 July 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  12. ↑ "2014 FIFA World Cup – Statistical Kit" (PDF). FIFA.com. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-06-29.
  13. ↑ "Match suspensions to be served at the final competition of the FIFA World Cup". FIFA.com. 24 February 2014.
  14. ↑ "Neymar fires Brazil to comeback victory". FIFA. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
  15. 1 2 3 "Brazil 3 Croatia 1". BBC Sport. 12 June 2014. Archived from the original on 8 July 2014.
  16. ↑ Glendenning, Barry (12 June 2014). "Brazil 3-1 Croatia: World Cup 2014 – as it happened". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  17. ↑ Kane, Desmond (12 June 2014). "Forget Neymar, Brazil's new national hero is Yuichi Nishimura". Eurosport. Archived from the original on 13 June 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  18. ↑ "Brazil 3 - 1 Croatia Match report - Goal.com". Goal.com. 12 June 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  19. ↑ "Brazil 3 Croatia 1: Fifa defend under-fire referee Yuichi Nishimura as Japanese official caught up in diving row during opening World Cup match". The Independent. 13 June 2014. Archived from the original on 13 June 2014. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
  20. ↑ Haji Talib, Hassan; Chotpibulsap, Pitisak (13 June 2014). "Former FIFA referee: Refereeing for World Cup opener was "embarrassing"". Goal.com. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  21. ↑ "Marcelo's own goal, vanishing spray and goaline technology - the World Cup firsts at Brazil 2014". Der Standard. 12 June 2014.
  22. ↑ "Brazil 3-1 Croatia – Man of the Match". FIFA.com (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). 12 June 2014. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
  23. ↑ "2014 FIFA World Cup – Statistical Kit" (PDF). FIFA.com. p. 26. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-06-29.
  24. ↑ Khan, Mehreen (19 June 2014). "Cameroon v Croatia, World Cup 2014: as it happened". The Telegraph. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  25. ↑ "Cameroon 0 Croatia 4". BBC Sport. 18 June 2014.
  26. ↑ Peck, Brooks (18 June 2014). "Alex Song elbows Mario Mandzukic in the back for some reason, gets sent off". Yahoo Sports. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  27. ↑ Khan, Mehreen (19 June 2014). "Assou-Ekotto head-butt stuns Finke". ESPN. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  28. ↑ "Finke: Card no reason to see red". FIFA.com. 19 June 2014. Archived from the original on 22 June 2014. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  29. ↑ "World Cup: Cameroon coach slams 'disgusting' player behavior in loss". The Guardian. 19 June 2014. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  30. ↑ "World Cup 2014: Cameroon investigates match-fixing claims". BBC Sport. 1 July 2014.
  31. ↑ "World Cup 2014: Match-fixer denies predicting Cameroon result". BBC Sport. 1 July 2014.
  32. ↑ "World Cup 2014: Fifa says no proof of Cameroon match-fixing". BBC Sport. 2 July 2014.
  33. ↑ "Olic: Twelve years and still going strong". FIFA.com. 19 June 2014.
  34. ↑ "Eagles down, but not out -Ameobi". The Sun. 20 June 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-07-14.
  35. ↑ "2014 FIFA World Cup – Statistical Kit" (PDF). FIFA.com. p. 40. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-06-29.
  36. ↑ "Mexico qualify from Group A with three late goals against Croatia". Guardian. 23 June 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
  37. ↑ "Croatia 1 Mexico 3". BBC Sport. 23 June 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
  38. ↑ "Why Rafael Marquez Will Be Key for Mexico in the Clash Against Netherlands". Bleacher Report. 23 June 2014.
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