Even by the lofty standards of the Qatar World Cup, the first matchday of the quarter-finals was beyond anybody's imagination. There was no shortage of drama and end-to-end action as South American giants Brazil and Argentina experienced contrasting emotions, while the same came be said about European sides Croatia and the Netherlands. Here are the talking points from the first two quarters which saw Argentina and Croatia set up a semi-final clash this Tuesday:
Croatia the new Germany of shootouts, Brazil fail European test again
Germany have been lauded in the past for their efficiency in penalty shootouts, but Croatia are well and truly the new force when it comes to keeping it cool in the tie-breaker. The Croats had prevailed twice in spot-kicks in 2018, overcoming Denmark and Russia in the last 16 and quarter-final respectively, and Zlatko Dalic's men have repeated the feat in 2022.
Goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic was on the bench in Russia, witnessing first hand the heroics of his compatriot Danijel Subasic, who had pulled out four saves against the Danes and the Russians. The inspired Livakovic also came up with the same amount of shootout saves against Japan and Brazil, joining his former teammate Subasic and Argentina's Sergio Goycochea (1990) as keepers to have registered the highest number of tie-breaker saves in World Cup history.
Penalties were the final act of a brilliant outing enjoyed by the Dinamo Zagreb custodian, who made as many as 11 saves – highest by a keeper in this tournament - throughout 120 minutes of action, thwarting Neymar on quite a few occasions. His brave teammates ensured that Livakovic's heroic performance would not go down to waste as Bruno Petkovic brought parity with Croatia's first shot on target after Neymar's scintillating opener.
While the 37-year old midfield general Luka Modric continues to defy his age, the 30-year old Neymar may have missed out on his greatest shot yet at the World Cup. Neymar will be 34 by the time the next World Cup comes along where he will still be younger than Modric, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Olivier Giroud now. But Brazil's star man is currently unwilling to look too far ahead, while he also recently expressed doubt with his long-term future in the game.
Their heartbreaking exit to yet another European opponent will rankle Neymar no end. Tite's charges had ample opportunities to break the deadlock before Neymar's eventual intervention in extra time, while the fact that the Paris Saint Germain starlet had waited in vain till the last penalty kick was also a major topic of discussion after the game.
The five-time champions, after showing much promise, thus continued their streak of painful exits at the hands of European teams in the knockout stage. They had lost to Belgium at the same stage in 2018, Germany in the 2014 semi-final, the Netherlands in the 2010 quarter-final and France in the 2006 quarter-final. For a nation obsessed about football, it was a sad end for what many had called Brazil's best team in recent times. In the aftermath, head coach Tite stepped down, while the end is also nigh for 38-year old captain Thiago Silva and 39-year old veteran Daniel Alves.
Duel in Lusail rivals Battle of Nuremberg
The Qatar World Cup had its own “Battle of Nuremberg” as the Albiceleste and the Dutch played out an exhilarating game of football that was littered with cards dished out by Spanish referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz. In the last 16 of the 2006 edition, Russian official Valentin Ivanov had shown four red cards - two for each team - and 16 yellows to Portuguese and Dutch players, and Lahoz followed a similar script, giving out 16 cards in total and calling 48 fouls. The final card came the way of Denzel Dumfries, who was given his marching orders after the tie-breaker.
The 45-year old Spaniard incurred the wrath of Argentina skipper Messi and goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, with the former asking Fifa to review his officiating. Penalty shootout hero Emiliano meanwhile, opined that with Spain already gone from the competition, LaLiga referee Lahoz was eager to send the Spanish-speaking Argentines home too.
The game itself lived upto the Argentina-Netherlands classics of the past as the Sky Blues once again triumphed in the tie-breaker, like they had done in the 2014 semi-final in Louis van Gaal's second tenure as Dutch coach. His third stint at the Dutch job, the Lusail blockbuster proved to be the final farewell for one of football's most celebrated and brilliant coaches.
Messi had also made it 1-0 in the 2014 shootout and he was at the thick of things again this time, putting away Argentina's first spotkick; second occasion on the night the great man got the better of Andries Noppert. But compared to eight years ago, Messi played a more peripheral figure against the three-time finalists, assisting Nahuel Molina's opener before doubling their lead from the spot himself.
Wout Weghorst then jolted Lionel Scaloni's men by becoming the first Dutch player to come on as a substitute and score twice, taking the game to extra time in the 101st minute. But Emiliano later denied Virgil Van Dijk and Steven Berghuis in the tie-breaker, while his teammates kept their composure – with the exception of Enzo Fernandez – to very much keep the nation and Messi's hopes alive of a World Cup title in the footballing genius' last dance.