Croatia barged into second round of in the FIFA World Cup 2018 as they drubbed former World champions Argentina by 3-0 goal in their group C match held on early hour of Wednesday at Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, Russia.
The emphatic Group D victory at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium on Thursday ensured Croatia became the fourth country to reach the second round of the tournament and condemned twice champions Argentina to an anxious next five days as they await their fate.
Croatia are top of the group with six points while Argentina have just one point from their two games. Iceland, also with one, and Nigeria, yet to open their account, meet in Volgograd on Friday in the second group game for both sides.
After a barren first half, Croatia came back strongly to slot three goals against toothless defense of Argentina in the second half.
However, Croatia shot into the lead when a shocking error by Argentina’s goalkeeper Caballero who in a bid to clear the ball gave a gifted ball to Rebic who made no mistake to slam home in the 53rd minutes to give Croatia 1-0 lead.
A brilliant curling shot from Luka Modric saw Croatia took 2-0 lead in the 81st minute of the play.
And to add salt to Argentina’s wound Rakitic made it 3-0 in the 91st minute to seal the fate of the match.
