Croatia has a band of heroes to rival the venerated 1998 contingent. Ivan Rakitic netted the decisive penalty kick in Saturday's dramatic World Cup quarter-final with Russia to book a meeting with England in the final four on Wednesday. It will be the first time Croatia has reached the semi-finals since the likes of Davor Suker, Slaven Bilic, and a young Igor Tudor finished third in France two decades ago.
The fixture was 1-1 at the half as Denis Cheryshev's stunning left-footed opener was cancelled out by Andrej Kramaric's close-range header after 39 minutes. Croatia was the superior side in the second stanza, with its best chance falling to Ivan Perisic, but the Inter winger somehow hit the upright. The score was still knotted when referee Sandro Ricci signalled the end of 90 minutes. After extra time and a penalty shoot-out, Croatia came out tops. Only Argentina in 1990 and Croatia in 2018 have won two separate penalty shootouts at a single World Cup.
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