World Cup 2018: The Blazers Get the Better of The Three Lions, And Twitter Floodgates Open

Wednesday night and the Croatia National Football Team created history at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium which will not be forgotten anytime soon. Croatia, popularly nicknamed Vatreni (The Blazers) have reached the FIFA World Cup final for the very first time ever after defeating England (The Three Lions) with a score of 2-1 in the FIFA semi-finals on July 11.

It is a historic and landmark victory for Croatia while it was a night of heartbreaks for The Three Lions and England fans all over the world. Ivan Perisic’s goal in the second half and Mario Mandzukic’s goal in the 109th minute (extra time) of the game have firmly placed Croatia in this year’s FIFA World Cup Final where they will be facing France on the July 15. And it is as a dam has burst for Croatia supporters on the social media flooded with support and encouragement:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Croatia’s Captain, Luka Modric in the post-match interview said, “English journalists, pundits from television, they underestimated Croatia tonight and that was a huge mistake. All these words from them we take, we were reading and we were saying:ok, today we will see who will be tired. They should be more humble and respect their opponents more.” Modric further added, “This is an amazing achievement for us – it’s a dream come true after such a long time. We are in the final and that is the biggest success in Croatia history. We have to be proud.”

While Harry Kane, England’s Captain after the defeat in the post-match interview said, “Obviously it's been great to get to this stage but we have fallen a bit short. It hurts... it hurts…” “It's tough. We worked so hard. The fans were amazing. It was a tough game. A 50-50 game. It hurt, it hurt a lot and it will hurt for a while.”

Croatia will be playing their first ever FIFA World Cup Final match against one time winner, France on the 15th July 2018.

Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, the first lady President of Croatia has been seen cheering her team during the World cup. She travelled in economy class to Russia to support her team. She also made an appearance last night too .After the match ended, videos emerged on the Social media showing President celebrating this historical win with Croatian team, coach Zlatko Dali? and the entire team inside the dressing room of Croatia Team.

Croatian President has been hailed by Twitter for supporting her team .
 

 

 

 

 

Croatia have won all of their knockout games during this World cup in extra time or penalty shootout.They defeated Denmark in penalty shootout by 3-2 in Round of 16 and also They won the Quarterfinals Against Russia in penalty shootout by 4-3.

Kieran Trippier helped England in gaining early control over the match by scoring a free kick goal in the first 5 minutes of the game against Croatia.He also ended England's 12 years world cup run without scoring a free kick goal since 2006.Croatia equalised the score in 68th minute of the match with the help of Ivan Perisic.

Midfielder Ivan Perisic became the 2nd most scoring player ever for Croatia at the World Cup with 4 goals.He was also declared as Budweiser “Player of the match”. Croatia scored their winning goal in 2nd half of Extra time .Striker Mario Mandzukic scored the historical goal which edged out England from the race of Winning the World cup.After winning the match ,he said in an interview that “This is a miracle. Only great teams can be as brave as we were and fight back from a goal down against teams like England. We've played our hearts out throughout the tournament".

England fans were shattered as they were expecting that World cup is coming home since England made their way for the first time into the Semifinals of World Cup since 1990. Coach Southgate said in an interview that “It’s impossible to say anything to make the players feel better at this moment in time”.He also added that “Players had run out of steam but that’s partly their age -- they’re still physically maturing. Croatia have hardened warriors whose understanding of big matches at times came to the fore.”

England fans were cheering on social media “ Its coming home “ but it did not.

 

 

 

 

Croatia becomes the 13th different country to reach the World cup final.They will now face France for World Cup Title on 15th July ‘2018 at Luzhniki Stadium,Moscow.