A late victor from Ivan Perisic sealed a 2-1 comeback victory for the Croatians, who usurped Spain to finish top and leave Del Bosque’s side with a repeat of the Euro 2012 final against Italy in Paris on Monday.
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Although Croatia won two of their three group matches, it could easily have been a flawless three had they not blown a two-goal lead against Czech Republic in their second match.
Spain had dispatched Turkey and the Czech Republic by a combined score of 4-0 but were stunned by Croatia in the final minutes of their game. “But if you watched last night’s game closely, you will realise that Croatia did not play that well, especially in the first half”.
“We had the game more or less controlled”, Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque said through a translator “We had our own errors and then they punished us”.
“It’s the first time in 30 years we’ve qualified from the group stage, we know we can go further and play better”.
A draw would have kept Spain on top of the group but with three minutes left, Ivan Perisic broke clear before beating Manchester United’s David de Gea to score the victor.
Tuesday’s results also mean that Slovakia, Hungary and Northern Ireland are all guaranteed to reach the knockout stages.
“This is something we have talked about many times”, Del Bosque said. We will try to prepare for the knockout match against Italy.
Ivan Perisic’s 87th minute goal ended Spain’s unbeaten run at a European Championship that stretched all the way back to 2004.
Ivan Perisic’s 87th minute victor means that Spain will face Italy in the first knockout match of the tournament, a hard fixture that could have been avoided if they had won or drawn the match.
“It’s better to lose now”, Nolito said. “Of course, against big teams you always need such luck. but I hope the team continues to improve performance-wise in the next few matches”.
“We have come to win the Euros”.
“We played well and we were convincing but we didn’t score almost enough”.
Still, one match stands out as Euro 2016 finally heats up.
Renee Montgomery’s 3-pointer with 2.9 seconds left lifted the Minnesota Lynx to a 72-69 win over the Los Angeles Sparks on Tuesday in a matchup of unbeaten teams.
“Let’s not get carried away”, said the attacking midfielder.
Despite the absence of injured Real Madrid star Luka Modric, Croatia fought back. If we advance, I think we have a long way to go. “If we advance, we can do what we did in Euro 2008, because our confidence is growing now”.
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However, a goal in each half by Burak Yilmaz and Ozan Tufan helped Turkey beat the Czech Republic by 2-0. The teams had also met in the final group game at Euro 2012, when La Roja ran out 1-0 winners. AP material published by LongIsland.com, is done so with explicit permission. Please see our terms of service for more information.
