Football Euro 2012 News: Israel 1 – 2 Croatia Analysis, Kranjcar saves the Blazers (Part 3)
Aouate was having a lovely time till the 35th minute as he could have enjoyed a beer or two from a picnic chair between posts but all that was before the strike from Ivica Olic which went just over the cross bar. That and Josip Simunic headers
which sailed just wide from the wood work woke Aouate back up.
The penalty corners taken by both teams brought close chances to score and therefore they became one of the highlights of the match.
Israel should have scored on the opportunities they had earlier on because Croatia finally decided to step up near to the end of the first of the game.
Croatia celebrated with euphoria as they succeeded in a penalty appeal, as Dekel Keinan attempted to score in the box but was tackled down by Eduardo. Kranjcar lined up to take the penalty and made no mistake in placing the ball in the back of the net.
It was Tottenham Hotspurs star midfielder, Croatian Luka Modric who decided to join in the action then and fired up his typical long ranged attempt half way between the posts and midline. Apart from the excitement, the shot didn’t result in anything much
as Aouate had the situation under control.
Next came Runje’s effort to score from just outside the box and that was followed by a second goal from Croatia. The Blazers produced the second goal as Modric orchestrated a play to set up Kranjcar a ball that he could blast into the net from right in front
of the posts.
Aouate was now as busy as a bee, as he ran around the box calling to defenders. Before the first leg of the match, he had to make yet another save and this time it was from Eduardo.
With the beginning of the second half, there wasn’t much of a change to report as the Croatia continued their domination. However, it seemed that their finesse in finishing was tarnished now. Kranjcar, Ivan Rakitic and Danijel Pranjic all launched ball to
the posts but were embarrassingly away from their targets.
Striker were fired wide till 10 minutes to game, and then in the 81st Pranjic made a pretty good attempt to start a comeback however, the shot was held firmly by goal keeper Aouate.
As Israel bagged one in the 82nd minute of the game, those earlier attempts lost by Croatia made the team pretty anxious in missing all those chances. Now Israelis were just a goal away from levelling the score and they were the rolling side now,
therefore the game was tipping in their favour.
The blunder resulting in Shechter’s goal with 8 minutes left on the clock woke back up the Croatian team from their slumber and their possession and attempts at scoring became impeccable again.
The invigorated hosts were ready for the Croatians this time and just seconds later Lior Rafaelov broke free from close range as Vermouth forced a superb stretch from Runje to keep the score board the same.
One last chance to score came late in the injury time as corner cross from Bebars Natcho could not find the head of one his team mates. The match then ended at Israel 1 – 2 Croatia.
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