On Friday, the quarter-finals of the 2022 FIFA World Cup got underway, with Croatia and Brazil kicking off proceedings.
The South American giants were hoping to finally end their 20 year long wait for their sixth World Cup, but faced a Croatia side who were determined not to give up, no matter what happened.
Although Neymar gave Brazil something to shout about by scoring following a brilliant mazy run, Croatia, once again, fought back to snatch a late equalizer and force the game to penalties.
And, just as was the case against Japan, Croatia came out on top thanks to shot-stopper Dominik Livakovic again coming up big when his side needed him to.
With the Vatreni winning 4-2 on spot-kicks, they are into their second straight final, and established several records in the process - including beating Brazil for the first time at a World Cup.
In addition, having triumphed in yet another penalty shoot-out, that makes it four success for Croatia at World Cups. They had to go through two back to back penalty competitions back in 2018, first seeing off Denmark and then Russia, who surprisingly had made it to the quarter-finals before setting up a semi-finals clash against England.
Four years later, Croatia are again showing they are true specialists from the spot, beating Japan, and most impressively, Brazil.
That makes it four wins via penalties at World Cups, which matches a record set by Germany. Certainly, as Croatia look forward to who they will face in the semi-finals, they will hope to settle the game in regular time.
And on a personal note for their top man between the posts, he now has set a personal record of his own:
4 - Dominik Livakovic has saved four penalties during World Cup penalty shoot-outs, the joint-most of any goalkeeper in the tournament's history. Prescience. pic.twitter.com/T3BJlDCQ37
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 9, 2022
But, given how successful they have proven to be from 12 yards out, it's safe to say that the Vatreni will not be quaking in their boots should their next game also have to be decided via a tense penalty battle.
