England are out of the World Cup.
They fell to a 2-1 defeat in Wednesday’s dramatic semi-final against Croatia in Moscow and won’t be contesting Sunday’s final against France. Kieran Trippier’s excellent free-kick from the edge of the Croatia penalty area gave Gareth Southgate’s side the lead early in the game. England were the better side for the entire first-half and the opening spell of the second period.
However, Croatia then suddenly sparked into life. Ivan Perisic scored with a very clever finish after 68-minutes, and England began to look rattled.
Their composure went and Croatia took control of the tie. In extra-time, 10-minutes before the final whistle, Mario Mandzukic sent Croatia into their first World Cup final with a strike past Jordan Pickford.
On ITV following the game, Croatia captain Luka Modric had some choice words for the English media, saying that they should be “more humble and respect their opponents more.”
“People were talking – English journalists, pundits from television,” the Real Madrid midfielder said.
“They underestimated Croatia tonight and that was a huge mistake. All these words from them we take, we were reading and we were saying: ‘OK, today we will see who will be tired.’ They should be more humble and respect their opponents more.
“We showed again that we were not tired – we dominated the game mentally and physically. We should have killed the game even before extra-time. This is an amazing achievement for us – it’s a dream come true after such a long time. We are in the final and that is the biggest success in Croatia history. We have to be proud.”
You can watch Modric here:
