Croatia beat Canada 4-1 in their Group F match.
With the victory, Croatia ends the day atop the group, with four points earned in its first two matches.
And with the loss, Canada’s dreams of advancing to the knockout round are dashed. They are officially eliminated from tournament contention after the defeat.
Match recap:
Canada wasted no time opening the scoring. Just 68 seconds into the match, Alphonso Davies put the Canadians up 1-0. It was Canada’s first-ever goal at the World Cup.
After taking the lead, Canada looked lively. But in the latter part of the first half, Croatia took control.
In the 36th minute, Andrej Kramaric lasered a ball past the Canadian keeper Milan Borjan. Ten minutes earlier, Kramaric found the back of the net but the play was whistled offside.
Just a few minutes later, Croatia scored a second and took the lead 2-1. Marko Livaja picked the ball up just outside the 18-yard box and found the bottom right corner of the net.
Canada looked like it was reeling going into the break, but the players settled down to start the second half.
In the 48th minute, a potential equalizer sailed just wide of Croatia’s right post. Then, in the 53rd minute, Croatia nearly got a third, but Canadian keeper Borjan made a big save to keep it out.
In the 70th minute, Croatia finally extended its lead to 3-1. Andrej Kramaric scored his second on the night to give the Croatians a two-goal cushion.
In stoppage time, the Croatians added insult to injury. Lovro Majer, who came on as a substitute, found the back of the net to make it 4-1 in the 94th minute.
