Brazil's tormentor in the last World Cup, Croatia has a dramatic elimination

Croatia, responsible for eliminating Brazil in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup, said goodbye to the 2026 World Cup in dramatic fashion this Thursday (2). The European team was defeated by Portugal 2-1, in Toronto, Canada, and ended up eliminated in the round of 32.

The Croatians dreamed of qualifying after opening the scoring with Ivan Perisic and resisting for a good part of the match. In the second half, however, Cristiano Ronaldo equalized with a penalty kick, and Gonçalo Ramos turned the match around in stoppage time.

The script became even more cruel for the team led by Zlatko Dalić. Shortly after the Portuguese comeback, Croatia found the net again with an own goal from Rúben Neves, but the referee canceled the move after a VAR review due to Mario Pašalić being offside at the origin of the play.

The elimination brings an early end to the campaign of the team that, four years ago, frustrated the dream of a sixth Brazilian championship by beating Tite's team on penalties, in Qatar. This time, the outcome was reversed: Croatia saw their place slip away in the final minutes and left the World Cup in a traumatic way.

Without Germany, Brazil remains at the top of the list of World Cup champions

Source: CNN