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Croatia knocks Brazil out on penalties

Brazil's Marquinhos lies on the ground as Croatia's player celebrate after the penalty shootout at the World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between Croatia and Brazil, at the Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Croatia knocked Brazil out of the World Cup, beating the five-time champions 4-2 in a penalty shootout on Friday in the quarterfinals.

Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic saved a penalty attempt by Rodrygo and Marquinhos later hit the post.

Neymar had scored late in the first half of extra time to give Brazil the lead, but Croatia equalised when Bruno Petkovic scored in the 117th.

Neymar’s goal moved him into a tie with Pelé as Brazil’s all-time leading scorer with 77 goals.

Croatia will next face either Argentina or the Netherlands, who play at 3pm, to try to return to the World Cup final four years after losing the title to France.

Five of Croatia's last six matches at World Cups have gone to extra time, including in its penalty shootout win over Japan in the round of 16 in Qatar. The team has been successful in eight of its last 10 knockout matches at the tournament.

Brazil was trying to return to the semifinals for the first time since 2014. The team hadn’t made it to the last four since hosting the tournament eight years ago, when the Selecao was embarrassed by Germany 7-1.

Brazil was trying to defeat a European opponent in the knockout stage of the World Cup for the first time since the 2002 final against Germany, when the team won for the last time.

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Published December 09, 2022 at 2:02 pm (Updated December 09, 2022 at 2:05 pm)

Croatia knocks Brazil out on penalties

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