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World Cup play-offs first leg victory

Classy Croatia takes
a 4:1 lead to Greece

09.11.2017.

photo by: Drago Sopta/HNS

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On Thursday, Croatia hosted Greece in the first leg of the 2018 FIFA World Cup play-offs. The Vatreni put in a great performance to record an important win.

CROATIA - GREECE 4:1 (3:1)
2018 FIFA World Cup play-offs, first leg.
Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb.

Referee: G. Rocchi (Italy)

Goals: 1:0 - Modrić (13' - 11m), 2:0 - N. Kalinić (19'), 2:1 - Papastathopoulos (30'), 3:1 - Perišić (33'), 4:1 - Kramarić (49')

Cautions: Karnezis (11'), Zeca (21'), Bakasetas (79')

Croatia: Subašić, Strinić, Lovren, Vida, Vrsaljko, Brozović, Rakitić, Perišić, Modrić (89' Pašalić), Kramarić (82' Vlašić), N. Kalinić (76' Rebić). Head coach: Z. Dalić.

Greece: Karnezis, Tzavellas, Papadopoulos, Papastathopoulos, Maniatis (46' Retsos), Tziolis, Samaris (62' Tachtsidis), Zeca, Fortounis, Stafylidis (71' Bakasetas), Mitroglou. Head coach: M. Skibbe.

Croatia and Greece faced each other on six previous occasions, and the match No. 7 was played at a full-crowd Maksimir Stadium, as the first leg of the 2018 FIFA World Cup play-offs. The Vatreni did an excellent job on the Road to Russia.

Zlatko Dalić's men could not wish for a better start, since Greece goalkeeper Karnezis fouled N. Kalinić in the box on 11 minutes. Croatia captain Modrić was calm to convert the penalty (1:0).

Six minutes later, Strinić sent a low cross to N. Kalinić, and his clever back-heel effort from close range was enough to beat Karnezis for the second time (2:0).

Croatia was looking for a third through Lovren and Perišić efforts, while Vida's last-minute intervention on 29 minutes resulted in a corner kick for Greece. Fortounis crossed for Papastathopoulos, who outjumped Croatia' defence and brought Greece back into the game.

The Vatreni, however, responded with another goal: on 33 minutes, Vrsaljko crossed from the right flank to find Ivan Perišić at the far post, and he headed it in (3:1). Despite further activities in front of Greek goal - Karnezis saving Kramarić and N. Kalinić efforts, Rakitić trying a long-distance shot - Croatia went on a break with a two-goal advantage.

This margin was increased at the beginning of the second half, when Vrsaljko and goalscorer Kramarić punished Greek defensive mistake (4:1).

The hosts went searching for the fifth goal, but Karnezis produced more quality saves to stop Kramarić and Rakitić, while Perišić missed two upcoming opportunities.

On the other side of the pitch, Mitroglou tried to beat Croatia's goalkeeper on three occasions, but Subašić was not surprised. His save on 90 minutes deserves a special mention.

In the other play-off match of the evening, Switzerland won 1:0 in Northern Ireland, while the return leg of the Croatia - Greece encounter is scheduled in Piraeus, on Sunday, 12 November (kick-off 20:45 CET).

09.11.2017., Stadion Maksimir, Zagreb. Spectators: 330013 Referees: Gianluca Rocchi (ITA), Elenito Di Liberatore (ITA), Mauro Tonolini (ITA) Fourth referee: Luca Banti (ITA) Croatia 4 Greece 1
23	Danijel Subašić	1	Orestis-Spyridon Kanezis 12'
9	Andrej Kramarić 49' 82'	2	IOannis Maniatis 46'
7	Ivan Rakitić	3	Georgios Tzavellas
10	Luka Modrić 13' 89'	5	Kyriakos Papadopoulos
2	Šime Vrsaljko	6	Alexandros Tziolis
6	Dejan Lovren	8	Jose Goncalves Rodrigues 21'
4	Ivan Perišić 33'	10	Konstantinos Fortounis
3	Ivan Strinić	11	Konstantinos Mitroglou
21	Domagoj Vida	19	Sokratis Papastathopoulos 30'
11	Marcelo Brozović	21	Konstantinos Stafylidis 71'
16	Nikola Kalinić 19' 76'	22	Andreas Samaris 62'
Bench
1	Dominik Livaković	12	Stefanos Kapino
12	Lovre Kalinić	13	Ioannis Anestis
18	Filip Bradarić	4	Panagiotis Retsos 46'
5	Matej Mitrović	14	Anastasios Bakasetas 79' 71'
20	Mario Pašalić 89'	17	Panagiotis Tachtsidis 62'
22	Josip Pivarić	7	Lazaros Christodoulopoulos
17	Mario Mandžukić	9	Dimitrios Diamantakos
15	Marko Rog	15	Vasileios Torosidis
13	Zoran Nižić	16	Dimitrios Kourmpelis
8	Nikola Vlašić 82'	18	Ioannis Gianniotas
14	Ante Rebić 76'	20	Charalampos Lykogiannis
19	Marin Leovac	23	Marios Oikonomou
Coaches
	Zlatko Dalić		Michael-Heinz Skibbe

One witness of the inconvenient outcome of the 2018 FIFA World Cup play-off draw is Croatia's head-to-head record against Greece, since it speaks in Hellenic favour.

In six previous matches, four qualifiers and two friendlies, Croatia has won on just one occasion. The occasion was, however, a very important one. In late April 1997 in Thessaloniki, Miroslav Blažević's men celebrated the lone goal despite a partisan support and recorded one of the key victories in 1998 World Cup qualifying campaign.

Nerves of steel were required, and the relentless Davor Šuker struck home on 74 minutes to secure three golden points. Six months earlier in Zagreb, Greece took lead just nine minutes into the match, courtesy of Nikolaidis, and another Šuker goal - in the closing minutes of the first half - was enough for a 1:1 draw.

However, Croatia managed to finish above Greece and join the play-offs as the runner-up, with Peter Schmeichel's contribution in the last round. The play-off draw paired Croatia with Ukraine, and the rest is history.

Next came two friendly matches. In March 1999 in Athens, Giannakopoulos' brace gave Greece a 2:0 lead, with Vlaović and Šuker finding the net on 68 and 80 minutes to make it 2:2. Several minutes before the final whistle, Nikolaidis appeared for the first Greek victory over Croatia (3:2).

In April 2001, Varaždin was the host city, and Greece replayed the scenario: it was Alexandris' brace that gave the visitors 2:0 lead. Vlaović and Rapaić replied on 67 and 90 minutes to complete the Croatian comeback (2:2).

More competitive excitement was scheduled for EURO 2012 qualifying campaign. Slaven Bilić's men were unable to break Greek resistance in September 2010 encounter in Zagreb (0:0), while the reverse leg in the Karaiskakis cauldron in Piraeus left no fond memories for Croatia.

Samaras and Gekas became Greek heroes, scoring on 71 and 79 minutes (2:0), preparing the way to secure them the top spot, leaving Croatia to face Turkey in the play-offs. A world class performance in Istanbul obtained Croatia's final tournament visa. One win, three draws, and two losses, alongside 6:8 goal-difference, is a head-to-head record that calls for caution, yet the upcoming clashes with Greece present an opportunity to reverse this negative trend.