The 2022 World Cup has seen two cracking quarterfinals already as we near the business end of the tournament. With so much still happening every matchday, ESPN India attempts to pick out the one moment that defined the day's action.
For day 17, we pick the moment when Bruno Petkovic and Croatia knocked the wind out of Brazil - as they equalised late on. Before beating them 4-2 on penalties.
Bruno Petkovic starts running as soon the ball nears the halfway line. It's been brought there after Nikola Vlasic ran onto the remnants of a tussle between Luka Modric and Casemiro, and carried it forward. At this stage, in the 116th minute of the game, it's all but over.
Most of the watching world has already started celebrating Brazil's win. After all, they had dominated Croatia for most of the 115 minutes that preceded this moment. Less than ten minutes before this, Neymar Jr. had scored one of the great goals of this (or indeed any) World Cup. He had cut through Croatia with that unique blend of skill, balance, poise and sheer football nous to give Brazil a rather deserved lead. Neymar danced, Brazil danced, the world danced. 1-0, game over. Surely.
No one has told Petkovic, though. He's running full pelt, willing himself to get on the end of this counterattack. A big man at 6'4" and considerable heft, Petkovic runs with a style that's as polar-opposite to Neymar as possible - heavy, thumping strides, with the ungainly yet irresistible bearing of boulder gaining speed as it rolls downhill. As he runs, he looks around... there's no one near him and he starts yelling for the ball.
Petkovic, a 28-year-old veteran of Dinamo Zagreb, had come on in the 72nd minute of this taxing encounter and was full of running. He had earlier created Croatia's best chance, a surprisingly deft twinkle of his boots leaving two defenders in his wake, but Marcelo Brozovic had blazed high and wide from his smart squared ball. He, and his fellow forwards had run and run but hadn't gotten many chances. It hadn't deterred any of them, though.
Even when Neymar had scored, Croatia had never really collapsed. They should have, by all rights, but they hadn't. It's just not what Zlatko Dalic's men do.
As Petkovic runs, he can see Vlasic has moved the ball left, to his Dinamo strike-partner Mislav Orsic. Now he really wants the ball, and his calling for it becomes more frantic, waving his arms like a windmill in a storm.
It's important here to note where Brazil's defenders are. With five minutes left to go, and a lead to protect, their midfield had gotten stranded in Croatia's attacking third, and they had collectively, somehow, managed to give Croatia this chance to counter. Out of nothing.
At the start, when Vlasic had started the run off the Modric-Casemiro layoff, Alex Sandro had been dragged in with him -- which meant there was no one at left back. An intelligent run from Ante Budimir down the middle had inexplicably attracted the attention of all of Danilo, Thiago Silva and Marquinhos. By the time Danilo recognized the error and started moving towards closing down Orsic, he was in the box and ready to square it. At the same time, in the middle, Budimir had dragged Marquinhos and Silva deep.
It was 3 v 3... but one of those defenders (Silva) was covering space, the possibility of a threat; and that had left one attacker (Petkovic) completely free.
Petkovic recognizes where the space is immediately, and as Orsic gets into the final third, stops waving his hands, stops calling out - he knows his mate has seen him and he doesn't want to attract the attention of those who have lost sight of him. He knows the pass will come.
For Croatia, the passes almost always come. At the start of this game, Croatia had enjoyed a lot of possession. Their midfield trio of Modric, Brozovic and Mateo Kovacic had held onto it, circulated it, but not done much with it other than try and keep it out of the hands of Neymar and co. As the match wore on, though, their control had slipped considerably and by the later stages, it had been wave after wave of Brazilian attack: repelled only by Croatia's incredible defence -- led by goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic. Before Neymar did, well, a Neymar, Livakovic had made nine saves (some of them truly sensational) to keep Brazil at bay.
At the other end, Alisson Becker had made none.
Petkovic knows this is it. The one big chance. Once inside the box, Orsic squares it across the face of the goal, without pause. Petkovic slows down, creating a neat little bubble of space around him, and jogs onto the ball. Casemiro's closing in, but he's too far away. A first time whack with Petkovic's left foot, a cruel deflection off the hopelessly stranded Marquinhos and the ball spins, almost in slow-motion, past Alisson's outstretched right hand.
With Croatia's first shot on target, with just three minutes to go, Bruno Petkovic had equalised for Croatia. 1-1.
They roared around in celebration as the men in yellow-and-blue slumped around them: From the elation of Neymar-induced magic, from the heady promise of a World Cup semifinal, it had all come crashing down. With one shot, their only shot, Croatia and Petkovic had knocked the wind out of them. David smiled as Goliath crumpled.
The penalty shootout that followed felt like a formality. Croatia were certain and steady, pre-tournament favourites Brazil not so much. Petkovic's blow had staggered them that hard.
A picture that speaks a million words... #HRV #BRA #FIFAWorldCup #Qatar2022 pic.twitter.com/qVJRvQ44Cj
- ESPN India (@ESPNIndia) December 9, 2022