Argentina 0-3 Croatia: World Cup highlights and recap

Croatia beat Argentina 3-0 at Nizhny Novgorod Stadium in Nizhny Novgorod on Thursday, June 21. Here are all the highlights from the match.

Argentina’s hopes of making it out of the group stage are hanging by a thread after a 2-0 loss to Croatia on Thursday night in Nizhny Novgorod, the turning point an outrageous error by Willy Caballero early in the second half.

The match was an open, even contest from the beginning, with both sides eager to get forward with the ball and press the opposition without it. Ivan Perisic had the first good chance within five minutes, forcing an excellent stop from Willy Caballero down to his left.

Maximiliano Meza had a decent chance shortly after, but had his shot denied by a good block from Dejan Lovren, before Enzo Perez missed Argentina’s best opportunity of the half, skewing the ball wide after a mix-up in the Croatian defense left the goal almost wide open.

Croatia continued to pose a threat going forward, particularly down the sides of Argentina’s back three. Mario Mandzukic missed an open header at the back post, while Ante Rebic’s touch let him down when he was played through by Luka Modric shortly before halftime.

Given some of the defending in the first half, it was no real surprise to see the opening goal come from an error. But even then, the error Caballero made was stunning, chipping a pass straight to Rebic, who volleyed in expertly with his first touch.

Argentina seemed to take a few minutes to come to terms with what had happened, but they slowly started creating some chances, with Lionel Messi denied by an excellent tackle from Ivan Rakitic midway though the half.

As Jorge Sampaoli’s side chased the game, Luka Modric doubled Croatia’s lead, curling a wonderful right-footed shot past Caballero’s outstretched left hand, a fitting cap to another wonderful performance by the Croatia captain.

With time winding down, and Argentina throwing everyone forward in search of a life line, Croatia compounded their misery. Ivan Rakitic got the goal, rolling the ball easily into the net with several Argentina defenders appealing for offside, an apt summation of their performance as a whole.

As for Argentina and Messi, this could be the end. They can still go through, but they’ll likely need Iceland to drop points against Nigeria on Friday and beat Nigeria themselves on the final matchday of the group.

Next: The best player on every team at the World Cup

Highlights

Argentina close out group play against Nigeria on Tuesday, while Croatia face Iceland at the same time.