Sports News of Friday, 9 December 2022

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Brazil out of 2022 World Cup after losing 4-2 to Croatia on penalties

Brazil are out of the tournament Brazil are out of the tournament

Brazil are out of the 2022 FIFA World Cup after losing 4-2 on penalty shootouts to Croatia in their quarter-final match at the Education City Stadium.

The five-time World Champions who were tipped as favorites to win the tournament dominated the game but struggled to score a goal in regulation time.

Neymar Jr. broke the deadlock in extra time with a powerful shot after a sublime one-two with Lucas Paqueta.

The goal was Neymar Jr.'s 77th which is an equalization of Pele's goalscoring record for Brazil.

Despite being a goal down, Croatia kept on probing till they got the equalizer in the 116th minute from a Bruno Petkovic shot.

Croatian goalkeeper Livakovic pulled some great saves in the final minutes of the game as Casimero and Rodrygo came close to scoring.

Brazil started the penalty shootouts on a bad note as Real Madrid star, Rodrygo missed the first kick.

Croatia scored all their kicks as Marquinhos missed the fourth kick to hand the semi-final ticket to the Croatians.

This is the second consecutive time that Croatia have qualified for the semis after reaching the final of the World Cup in 2018.