{"id":180618,"date":"2018-07-07T17:42:13","date_gmt":"2018-07-07T21:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonfootball.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/2018\/07\/07\/russias-world-cup-dream-ends-penalties-croatia-advances\/"},"modified":"2018-07-09T03:28:04","modified_gmt":"2018-07-09T07:28:04","slug":"russias-world-cup-dream-ends-penalties-croatia-advances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2018\/07\/07\/russias-world-cup-dream-ends-penalties-croatia-advances\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia 2-2 Croatia: Russia&#8217;s World Cup Dream Ends in Penalty Shootout Defeat"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>SOCHI, RUSSIA (July 7, 2018) &#8212;\u00a0<\/strong>Russia&#8217;s fairytale run at the World Cup has come to a close.<\/p>\n<p>The host nation went to penalty kicks again during the knockout stage. However, Croatia&#8217;s four converted penalties were enough to get Luka Modric and company a ticket to the semifinals.<\/p>\n<h1><strong>Russia 2-2 Croatia: Russia&#8217;s World Cup Dream Ends in Penalties<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>Russia, the lowest-ranked team in the entire tournament, outlasted Spain and group stage matches against Saudi Arabia, Uruguay,\u00a0and Egypt to get to Sochi. However, Croatian goalkeeper\u00a0Danijel Subasic proved to be a wall against Fedor Smolov and\u00a0M\u00e1rio Fernandes.<\/p>\n<p>Fernandes&#8217; missed penalty kick came only moments after scoring in the 115th minute to equalize the match in extra time.<\/p>\n<p>Fernandes, a Brazilian-born Russian citizen, made his debut for Russia back in March 2017 against the Ivory Coast. He has made 10 appearances for Russia.<\/p>\n<p>His extra time goal was the first of his international career.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"ru\" dir=\"ltr\">\u0415\u0449\u0435 \u0440\u0430\u0437: \u044d\u0442\u043e \u0431\u044b\u044b\u044b\u044b\u043b \u0433\u043e\u043e\u043e\u043e\u043b!!!!! 2:2!!!!!!<br \/>\u041c\u0430\u0440\u0438\u043e \u0424\u0435\u0440\u043d\u0430\u043d\u0434\u0435\u0441!!!!!!! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/dIId42w19W\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/dIId42w19W<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; \u0421\u0431\u043e\u0440\u043d\u0430\u044f \u0420\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438\u0438 (@TeamRussia) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TeamRussia\/status\/1015694757832593409?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 7, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>The First Tie<\/h2>\n<p>Russia found the scoreboard first in the 31st minute.<\/p>\n<p>Denis Cheryshev slipped a goal past\u00a0Subasic, off an assist from Artem Dzyuba. Cheryshev finished the tournament with four goals &#8212; the first four goals of his international career. It currently has him in a tie for second in the golden boot race behind England&#8217;s Harry Kane.<\/p>\n<p>However, eight minutes later, Croatia found an equalizer.\u00a0Andrej Kramaric found the back of Igor Akinfeev&#8217;s net in the 39th minute on a header.<\/p>\n<p>Akinfeev, who features for CSKA Moscow, was late with a reflection.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What To Take Away for Russia<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Smolov, Cheryshev and their fellow Russians shouldn&#8217;t keep their heads down long. The Russians came into the tournament with all odds against them.<\/p>\n<p>However, <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonsoccer.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/2018\/07\/01\/igor-akinfeev-saves-day-historic-upset\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the Russians managed to send Spain<\/a> home in a stunning Round of 16 upset. Meanwhile, their FIFA ranking will be sure to boost up a few spots with the tournament.<\/p>\n<p>Aleksandr Golovin, Artem Dzyuba, and Denis Cheryshev made their names known in the tournament, as well as Fernandes. Cheryshev is only one of two players &#8212; the other being third-string goalkeeper\u00a0Vladimir Gabulov &#8212; who doesn&#8217;t play at the club level in Russia.<\/p>\n<p>Golovin, who is only 22 years old, has already had his name thrown in the transfer rumor mill.<\/p>\n<p>The Russian team is young and has a lot of growing left to do. Showing up powerhouse teams in the World Cup is only the beginning.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Next Task for Croatia<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Croatia won&#8217;t have an easy road to the final match.<\/p>\n<p>The Croats will take on the Three Lions of England on Wednesday, July 11, in St. Petersburg. The Three Lions claimed a 2-0 victory over Sweden before the Russia\/Croatia match.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"ru\" dir=\"ltr\">\u041a \u0441\u043e\u0436\u0430\u043b\u0435\u043d\u0438\u044e, \u0432 \u0441\u0435\u0440\u0438\u0438 \u043f\u0435\u043d\u0430\u043b\u044c\u0442\u0438 \u0443\u0434\u0430\u0447\u0430 \u043e\u043a\u0430\u0437\u0430\u043b\u0430\u0441\u044c \u043d\u0435 \u043d\u0430 \u043d\u0430\u0448\u0435\u0439 \u0441\u0442\u043e\u0440\u043e\u043d\u0435. \u041c\u044b \u043f\u043e\u043a\u0438\u0434\u0430\u0435\u043c <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FIFAWorldCup?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@FIFAWorldCup<\/a>, \u043d\u043e \u043c\u044b \u0441\u0434\u0435\u043b\u0430\u043b\u0438 \u0432\u0441\u0435, \u0447\u0442\u043e \u043c\u043e\u0433\u043b\u0438. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/%D0%92%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%9C%D1%8B%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D0%B0?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#\u0412\u043c\u0435\u0441\u0442\u0435\u041c\u044b\u041a\u043e\u043c\u0430\u043d\u0434\u0430<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/3NVsK0Dnbt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/3NVsK0Dnbt<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; \u0421\u0431\u043e\u0440\u043d\u0430\u044f \u0420\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438\u0438 (@TeamRussia) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TeamRussia\/status\/1015700383526785024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 7, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"j2dg35m2QuR2hLTKBrayGw\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/993529054\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'j2dg35m2QuR2hLTKBrayGw',sig:'-O0cT4PmRBIzKe8vVlv2xT60hnLtpY89T-l1wZ09txY=',w:'594px',h:'381px',items:'993529054',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SOCHI, RUSSIA (July 7, 2018) &#8212;\u00a0Russia&#8217;s fairytale run at the World Cup has come to a close. The host nation went to penalty kicks again during the knockout stage. However, Croatia&#8217;s four converted penalties were enough to get Luka Modric and company a ticket to the semifinals. Russia 2-2 Croatia: Russia&#8217;s World Cup Dream Ends [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2497,"featured_media":180619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,161,2132],"tags":[801,2189,2190,2251,2470,180,437],"class_list":["post-180618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-international-football","category-world-cup","tag-croatia","tag-fedor-smolov","tag-igor-akinfeev","tag-luka-modric","tag-mario-fernandes","tag-russia","tag-world-cup"],"modified_by":"Nat Goodlad, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2497"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}