Brazil crash out of FIFA World Cup after heart-breaking penalties defeat against Croatia

The 2022 FIFA World Cup continued to provide more surprises as the pre-tournament favourites Brazil were knocked out of the competition by Croatia on penalties in the quarter-finals. The South American side had one foot in the semi-finals after Neymar found the back of the net in the first half of extra time. However, Croatia fought back from the brink of elimination, with Bruno Petkovic scoring a 117th-minute equaliser before Dominik Livakovic produced more penalty shootout heroics to give the 2018 finalists a stunning victory against the five-time champions at the Education City Stadium.

Brazil blew away South Korea in the last 16, while Croatia edged past Japan on penalties, but there was nothing to separate the two sides in the first 45 minutes of the quarter-final on Friday night. Vinicius Jr had an early effort saved by Dominik Livakovic, while Neymar’s only real involvement was a tame free-kick that sailed into the hands of the Croatian shot-stopper.

The Selecao, though, upped their tempo after the break. Joskvo Gvardiol had to make an excellent intervention in the 47th minute, while Livakovic made three excellent saves against Neymar and Lucas Paqueta to keep the scores level. Neither side found an opening as the game headed into extra time but that one moment of magic from Brazil finally came in the 106th minute of the match.

Neymar unpicked the Croatia defence with some neat interplay on the edge of the box before skipping past goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic and firing the ball into the roof of the net to put Brazil in front. Neymar’s strike helped him equal Pele’s record of becoming the highest goal-scorer in Brazil’s history and should have also been enough to see out the win for the Selecao.

However, the stubborn Croatians refused to lie down as they found a rare opening in the 117th minute and equalised through Bruno Petkovic, whose shot squirmed past Alisson after a fortunate deflection from Marquinhos on route to goal.

Petkovic’s strike sent the tie to a shootout, and Brazil’s misery compounded as Rodrygo missed the first spot-kick for the South Americans, while Croatia found the back of the net with each of their first four tries. Marquinhos eventually hit the post with the decisive penalty, sending Brazil home empty-handed and Croatia into their second World Cup semi-final in a row.

This heartbreaking loss is Brazil’s second consecutive quarter-final exit at the World Cup and also their first penalty shootout defeat in the tournament since 1986. Croatia, meanwhile, have now won each of their last four World Cup shootouts since 2018 and will face Argentina in the semi-final on Tuesday night, who beat the Netherlands on penalties in their quarter-final clash on Friday.