Well-known journalist Roberto Morales told what he expects from one of the matches of the 1/8 finals of the 2022 World Cup, in which Croatia and Japan will play today.
Roberto Morales“This couple looks, in my opinion, more or less equal. The advantage of the Croats is only in the status and experience of some players (primarily Luka Modric) in major tournaments.
In the group stage matches, both teams left a contraversional impression. The Japanese at first expectedly lost to the Germans, who in the first half scored one goal from the penalty spot and another from offside. At the end of the meeting, the Asian team unexpectedly turned the game around, scoring two goals in less than ten minutes and scoring a sensational victory.
It would seem that everything was now in the hands of the Japanese national team, which was supposed to play with Costa Rica, which had just been defeated by the Spaniards with a score of 0:7. However, the Japanese managed to sensationally lose to the opponent (0:1) and faced the need to defeat the Spaniards.
That match was very strange. After winning the first half, Spain quickly conceded two rather pointless goals early in the second and weren't too eager to equalize. Thanks to the defeat of the Costa Ricans and a draw with the Germans, Spain calmly came out of second place, and even received Morocco instead of Croatia in the 1/8 finals, and then Portugal or Switzerland instead of Brazil, which will surely defeat South Korea.
The Croatians, having started in Qatar with a boring draw against the Moroccans, then defeated Canada 4-1, although they conceded first in that match. Their next opponent was the Belgians, whose performance in the first two rounds left a completely mediocre impression. The victory over them gave the wards of Zlatko Dalic a way out of the first place. But the final game in the quartet was extremely difficult for Modric and his comrades - the entire second half was dominated by Belgium, which miraculously did not score a single goal. Reinstated from Romelu's injury, Lukaku had four great opportunities to score but didn't convert anything. By the way, the victory of the Belgians left the Croats without a playoff. This match ended without goals, and that is why Croatia went to Japan,” said Morales.
