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Croatia (Provided)
Moscow – Croatia is the smallest country with a population of 4.2 million to play in a World Cup final since l & # 39, Uruguay 1950, after a -from-behind 2-1 victory England .
READ: On this occurrence: Croatia 2-1 England
Croatia reached the World Cup Final The first time in their history, after the winner of Mario Mandzukic has extended England's suffering in major tournaments and set a decisive match against France.
Luka Modric's team took the fifth minute on a superb free kick from Kieran Trippier. return by Ivan Perisic and Mandzukic to win a 2-1 tense competition in front of 78,000 spectators at the Luzhniki stadium.
In beating Gareth Southgate's young team, Croatia – a country of only four million people – surpbaded the achievements of the 1998 heroes, who reached the semi-finals in France.
Croatian players proudly celebrated in front of their fans in Moscow while in Zagreb tens of thousands of fans marched through the streets and squares, singing and waving red-white-blue flags [19659006]the defeat will be difficult to digest for England while their hopes of a first World Cup since 1966 have been crushed, but their young team has won many admirers in Russia.
Croatia must recover quickly after being taken into overtime for a third consecutive game.
"It was a very difficult match, we all know what was at stake, how important a semifinal is for a small country like Croatia". Perisic
"We started slowly, but we showed our character, just as we did in the last two knockout rounds where we had one less goal in both games." Twenty years ago, I was back in Omis, my hometown, I found myself in Croatia with a Croatia jersey and I could only dream of playing for my country and scoring. one of the most important goals to send us to a final. "
The English players dropped to the whistling finale, barely able to believe that their World Cup dream was finished after reaching the semifinals for the first time since 1990.
"We are emptied," said Harry Kane, still in the running for the tournament's top scorer – six shots in Russia, though his golden touch Abandoned Wednesday
"It hurts, it hurts, it will hurt for a while of course, we can keep our heads up. We went further than anyone thought. "
" I can not ask for more from the players, "said a disappointed Southgate." I think knockout football is about nice margins and when you have good spells against the sides ends, you must take your chance. "19659006" Tonight we were not quite there but we will learn. We left everything there. "
In London, a first wave of exaltation turned into grief, as 30,000 beer fans in Hyde Park saw their team cut short.
About 30 million people would have watched The match on television in Britain
Trippier gave a dreamed start to England, on a free kick 25 meters after the desperate plunge of Danijel Subasic after the fall of Dele Alli in a central position [19659017] Perisic equalized for Croatia in the 68th minute, beating Kyle Walker to bring Sime Vrsaljko's center back to Jordan Pickford
the winning goal in the 109th minute after sweeping the ball over Pickford after a recovery of the head of Perisic in the surface, surprised the English defense
Prince William, president of the Football Association, said I am proud of the Southgate team
"I know to which dot @england must be be disappointed at the moment, but I could not be more proud of this team and you should keep your head up, "he tweeted
France has the advantage of taking a day off more than its opponents after reaching the final for the third time in its history on Tuesday.
Samuel Umtiti's half-head proved sufficient for a 1-0 win against Belgium in St. Petersburg, sending tens of thousands of people to the Avenue des Champs-Elysees in Paris in scenes of joy when France won the World Cup at home. 1998.
Despite the much vaunted attack on teenager Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann, the French defense made the difference by ending Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku and showed that they will hard to beat Sunday.
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