BY DAMOLA EMMANUEL
Croatia or France will be the next King of the World, soccer-wise.
The Croats ensured that, Wednesday, when they threw out hopeful England.
England seemed to be on the way to proving bookmakers right when Kieran Trippier tucked in a perfectly taken free-kick from about 25 yards to put the Three Lions ahead only five minutes into the game.
It was a heart break for England when at the 68th minute when Ivan Perisic drew level for Croatia. From that moment on, there was no stopping the Croats who dominated the Three Lions in all departments of the game.
In fact, they would have sealed the game four minutes later when sloppy England defending allowed Perisic to latch on the ball. But his goal-bound shot hit the upright.
The pressure on the Three Lions was unrelenting but broke momentarily when Lingard nearly put England back in the lead with a superb strike that swept across the face of goal.
The match went into extra time and with just 11 minutes to go, Mano Mandzukic blasted home the back-breaker in the 109th minute, effectively postponing England’s dream of savouring World Cup trophy glory by at least another four years; that is, if they qualify for the 2022 finals.
At the long blast of the whistle, the result was Croatia 2, England 1.
