Croatia Leads Group F After Win Over Canada

Croatia moves to the top of Group F after defeating Canada 4-1 today at the Khalifa International stadium in Doha, Qatar.

Canada started off the games with the fastest goal of the Cup just two minutes after kickoff. A great cross met their main man Alphonso Davies, who came streaking in to head the ball down and slightly to the right of the keeper to take the lead.

Croatia tied the game in the 36^th minute after a through ball from Ivan Perišić left Andrej Kramarić unmarked to shoot the ball across the goal and into the right side netting of the goal.

Croatia knew that to give themselves a good chance at making it to the knockout stages, they would need a win today. Knowing this, Croatia went on to produce three more goals to give themselves a comfortable win and a +3 goal differential.

The goals would come from Marko Livaja, Andrej Kramarić again, and Lovro Majer in the 44^th, 70^th, and 94^th minutes respectively.

Luckily no player picked up a second yellow card today so both teams will be at full strength going into matchday three.

Croatia will need to tie or win against Belgium to ensure qualification. Unfortunately, with a second loss today, Canada becomes the second country to be eliminated from the World Cup.

In other matchday news:

Spain and Germany hold each other to a 1-1 tie at the Al-Bayt stadium in Al-Khor, Qatar.

Spain was looking to continue their winning form after their 7-0 win over Costa Rica and Germany was looking to get back on track after their 0-2 loss to Japan. Instead, they settled in the middle.

It was not until the 62^nd minute that the first goal of the game was scored. Álvaro Morata would receive a pass in from Jordi Alba on the left and proceed to flick it with the outside of his right foot, over the keeper, and into the near side of the goal.

Germany had many chances to take the lead earlier in the game, and many chances to tie, but it was as if they had forgotten where the goal was. After countless efforts and 21 minutes of being down a goal, they finally tied things up. Niclas Füllkrug would end up with the ball after it bobbled between him and his teammate Jamal Musiala on the right side of the box. After recovering it, he would blast it across the goal and into the upper left-hand corner.

To make it out, Spain would need to tie or beat Japan in their final game. Germany’s situation is a bit tougher. Germany would need to beat Costa Rica and hope that Spain beats Japan in order to qualify.

Here are what Groups E and F look like after matchday 2

Group E

1. Spain 4pts
2. Japan 3pts
3. Costa Rica 3pts
4. Germany 1pts

Group F

1. Croatia 4pts
2. Morocco 4pts
3. Belgium 3pts
4. Canada 0pts *eliminated from the Cup

Photo: Andrej Kramarić – Shutterstock – user: MDI – ID: 1241180188