Croatia managed to advance to the Round of 16 of Euro 2020 (Euro 2021) after beating Scotland 3-1 in the last match of Group D at Hampden Park, Glasgow, Wednesday (23/6).
Croatia qualified with the runner-up status in Group D. Vatreni accompanied England who came out as group winners, while Scotland were eliminated with caretaker status.
Croatia managed to take the lead in the 17th minute. Nikola Vlasic was able to maximize the header from Bruno Petkovic’s bait to shake the Scottish goal.
Croatia again spread the threat this time through Luka Modric in the 22nd minute. However, Modric’s speculative kick can still be driven away by Scottish goalkeeper, David Marshall.
Scotland responded to the pressure exerted by Croatia. Steve Clarke’s men had a chance but John McGinn’s shot inside the box was too weak and was easily saved by Dominik Livakovic in the 25th minute.
After that opportunity, Croatia was still the team that dominated possession. Luka Modric et al. looked comfortable playing the ball, while Scotland chose to wait for Croatia to make a mistake and counter-attack.
The strategy paid off just three minutes before the first half was over. Callum McGregor broke into the Croatia goal with a right-footed shot from outside the penalty box which made the score 1-1 until the first half ended.
In the second half, Scotland was still relying on a counter-attack strategy. This situation was used by Croatia to continue to apply pressure to pursue the second goal in this match.
The effort paid off in the 62nd minute. Modric fired hard from outside the penalty box which Marshall was unable to anticipate.
Scotland, who tried to score the equalizer, got disastrous just seven minutes before the game was over.
Croatia started to loosen up the pressure after winning 3-1 and Scotland struggled to get back on the scoresheet. As a result, no additional goals were created until the second half was over.
Scotland are the fourth team to have been confirmed to have been eliminated from Euro 2020 (Euro 2021). Scotland was only able to get one point from three matches in Group D. While Croatia managed to qualify as runners up following England and the Czechs.
Previously, North Macedonia, Turkey and Russia had already been eliminated. The three teams are both at the bottom of their respective group standings.
Turkey lost out to Italy, Wales and Switzerland in Group A. Meanwhile, Macedonia became the goal granary for the Netherlands, Austria and Ukraine in Group B.
Bad luck was also experienced by Russia, which actually has quite good player material. Russia lost to Belgium, Denmark and Finland in the Group to qualify
A total of eight teams will be eliminated from the group stage with details of the six bottom teams and two third-placed teams.
