Although Lin Quan and Guardiola both preferred Croatia, it was the Danish team that scored the first goal.

And the Danish team's goal came very quickly! Just 50 seconds into the game, the Danish team got a chance to play from the edge of the box.

Denmark's left back Knudsen used his signature powerful hand throw to throw the ball directly into the penalty area, and the out-of-bounds ball had the effect of a corner kick!

Denmark's central defender Simon Kjaer leaped high but missed the ball, instead deceiving the Croatian players around him.

The football fell to the back post without being touched by anyone.

Denmark's central midfielder Delaney grabbed the ball before the opponent's defender could kick it, took a few steps to the right and passed it to his teammate next to him.

Another Danish central defender, Jorgensen, took the ball and shot directly. The angle of the shot was not tricky, but his luck was incredible.

When Jorgensen shot, there were two defensive players in front of him. One of them and the goalkeeper stretched out their feet to block the ball, but the ball passed under their crotches and rolled into the goal.

With just one shot, Jorgensen penetrated the opponent's three goal gates. His shooting skills are amazing!

This lightning-fast goal left the audience a little confused.

Some fans who had just arrived at the stadium and had not yet had time to take their seats were even more confused.

What's going on? I haven't even taken my seat yet and a goal has already been scored?

After everyone realized what was happening, cheers suddenly broke out at the scene.

The fans of the Danish team were very excited, they felt that the game was a sure win!

In this World Cup, the Danish team's defensive performance was outstanding.

In the three group stage games, they only conceded one goal.

Such a solid defensive foundation is the biggest confidence that Danish fans feel they can win the game.

They even felt confident that even if the defending champion Spanish team came, they might not be able to break through their iron wall of defense.

The expressions of the Croatian players and head coach were somewhat solemn. It was obvious that they had fully understood their opponent before the game and knew that this was a team with strong defensive capabilities.

Being taken over by such an opponent is a huge trouble for the Croatian team.

"This ball was lost..."

Guardiola did not expect the first goal to come so early. After seeing this goal, he couldn't help shaking his head and laughing.

I don’t know what to say, the arm strength of the Danish full-back is really amazing.

According to the rules of the throw-in, the player who throws the ball has to raise both hands above his head. In this case, he was able to throw the ball more than 30 meters. Did he have a strong arm? For some teams that are good at scoring headers, if they have a player who is good at throwing throw-ins like this, then their offensive methods will be more diverse.

Just imagine, a frontcourt throw-in is roughly equivalent to a corner kick. This alone gives them more than a dozen more offensive opportunities than their opponents.

"After falling behind at the start, Croatia must speed up."

Guardiola was originally more optimistic about the Croatian team, but when he saw that Croatia fell behind at the start, he suddenly became nervous.

The ball was lost too early. If Denmark's tactical style was defensive counterattack, Croatia would be in danger.

But it was obvious that the Danish team had no intention of launching a defensive counterattack.

Maybe even they themselves didn't expect that they could score a goal so quickly?

It turns out that going head-on against Croatia was not a wise choice.

In the fourth minute, Croatia launched a counterattack after stealing the ball. Rakitic dribbled into the penalty area and passed the ball to the left.

The pass was not good, as the Danish defender predicted the pass line in advance.

But just when everyone thought that Croatia's attack was going to be resolved, the Danish defender gave them a big gift.

Their clearance hit their teammates, bounced back and landed at the feet of Croatian striker Mandzukic.

Mandzukic himself was stunned for a moment, as if he did not expect the other party to give him such a big gift.

But he quickly recovered from his shock. Without even looking at Schmeichel's position, he half-turned and volleyed the ball, scooping it up from the ground and sending it brushing the post and into the goal.

Although Schmeichel had moved to the near corner, he still had no reaction.

There was really no way to save this ball. The distance was too close, the speed was too fast, and the angle was too tricky. If he really tried to save it, he would most likely hit the post.

It took only 3 minutes for Croatia to equalize the score.

The two sides are back to the same starting line again.

The audience cheered even louder. This game was so interesting. Two goals were scored in just four minutes.

If he keeps playing at this pace, he will score six, seven, eight or nine goals in a game, right? "This game is really interesting. These two goals were a little unexpected to me."

Guardiola couldn't help laughing. The game seemed to be a bit of a chaos. Neither side's positional warfare yielded any results, but both sides managed to score goals amidst various unexpected circumstances.

Is this game going to be decided by luck? After 120 minutes, Guardiola was in tears: "It actually went to a penalty shootout. Was my prediction so accurate?"

120 minutes ago, the score was 1:1, and now it is still 1:1. The two teams played very excitingly, and together they contributed thirty or forty shots, but they just couldn't score a goal.

In the extra time, Croatia also got a penalty kick.

As a result, Modric's penalty was saved by Schmeichel Jr., and Croatia missed the chance to kill the opponent.

The game entered the most brutal penalty shootout.

Denmark's Eriksen was the first to appear and then missed the free throw.

The Danish players on the field and the fans in the stands, when they saw the god of love miss the first penalty, their faces suddenly changed and their feet felt cold, as if a basin of cold water was poured on them.

It's over, it's over. They missed the first penalty kick. Can they still win? Seeing Eriksson's shot being saved by Subasic, everyone on the Croatian side cheered as if they had won the game.

Then, in the expectant eyes of the crowd, the shot of Croatia's first player, No. 19 Badelj, was miraculously blocked by Schmeichel! This time, it was the Croatian fans and players who were dumbfounded.

What's going on? Is the opponent's goalkeeper cheating? He saved two penalties in just a few minutes?

Old Schmeichel, who was on the sidelines, was so excited to see his son's outstanding performance that his face turned red and he cheered loudly and clapped his hands hard without even noticing that his palms were red.

“This game is so fun!”

Lin Quan and Guardiola, two neutral fans, were already laughing so hard that they were bent over!

Today's game was wonderful, wonderful in every sense of the word.

I am so lucky to be able to witness such a game in person! "I feel that the goalkeepers on both sides are in good shape. Maybe they can save one or two more penalties next time."

Guardiola said to Lin Quan while applauding and cheering.

Although the probability of saving a penalty is less than 30%, when the goalkeeper is in top form, all the probability can be thrown aside.

Facing a goalkeeper in this state, even the opponent would feel frightened because the psychological pressure is too great.

Penalty kicks are themselves a great test of the players' mentality. Once their mentality is affected, the probability of poor performance is very high, which further reduces the difficulty of the goalkeeper's saves.

This is also why, the later the penalty kick is, the greater the pressure on the player, and the higher the probability of missing the penalty.

Among the fans at the scene, there are many who have the same expectations as Guardiola and Lin Quan.

It's not a big deal if the penalty kick is scored, but it would be news if it is not scored.

It would be really fun if we missed three penalties in a row.

The second player to appear on the Danish team was captain Kjaer. Under tremendous pressure, he chose to aim at the blind spot in the upper right corner of the goal and fired hard!

It has to be said that this choice is very risky. If the penalty is missed, the morale of the Danish team will really collapse.

But great strength works wonders, his shot hit the target accurately and Croatian goalkeeper Subasic had no way to deal with it.

The pressure came to the Croatian team. Kramaric, who came on as a substitute, used a fancy change of rhythm to deceive Schmeichel and easily shot the ball into the goal.

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Schmeichel protested to the referee, saying that the opponent had a clear pause before shooting, which was a penalty violation and the goal should be ruled invalid.

But the referee did not accept his protest and ruled that the goal stood.

Both sides returned to the same starting line, and the pressure once again came to the Danish team.

After scoring both goals in the last round, the mentality of the players on both sides seemed to have stabilized.

The third Danish player to come on also scored the free throw.

At this time, the Croatian team sent out their third penalty kick player - Modric! Seeing Modric walking towards the penalty area, there was an uproar in the stands. Many fans were worried that Modric, who had just missed the penalty, would not be able to withstand the pressure and collapse in this round.

Schmeichel, who had just blocked the opponent's penalty a few minutes ago, saw Modric, an old acquaintance, walk into the penalty area and challenged Modric:

"Hey, Luca, my eyes have seen through you, you're dead!"

Modric glanced at the other person and ignored him.

After the referee blew the whistle, he took a steady run-up and kicked the ball towards the middle.

Schmeichel misjudged the direction and dived to the right side of the goal. If he had stood still, the ball would have been blocked again.

Modric completed his redemption. After scoring the penalty, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. His previously tense nerves slowly relaxed. After returning to the team, he apologized to his teammates one by one for missing the penalty.

If the penalty had not been missed, the game would have been over.

"It doesn't matter, it's the same whenever you win!"

Rakitic, a good friend of the national team and a bitter rival of the club, patted Modric on the shoulder and said comfortingly.

Kovacic echoed, "That's right, we agreed to share the wins and losses. There's no need to blame yourself like this. Besides, we want to win the championship, so why are we falling here?"

The comfort from his teammates made Modric feel warm inside and he was very touched.

He secretly swore in his heart that he must try his best this time and leave no regrets.

"Let's go, the game has been decided."

Seeing the condition of the Croatian players, Lin Quan said to Guardiola.

"Are you leaving now? The penalty kick hasn't been taken yet. Do you want to wait a few more minutes?"

Guardiola seemed to want to watch the last few penalties before leaving. At this moment, there was a cry of surprise from the stands, followed by even bigger and louder cheers.

The two turned their heads to look at the field, and saw that Croatia's goalkeeper Subasic threw away the football in his hand and roared excitedly. In front of him, the fourth Danish player Schone had a look of self-blame on his face.

It was clear what had just happened; Denmark had missed another penalty.

"Well, well, it looks like the winner has really been decided."

Missing the fourth penalty was a suspended death sentence for the Danish team.

But just when everyone thought that Croatia was going to win the game by taking advantage of the opponent's mistakes, the fourth Croatian player also missed a penalty.

This time, Lin Quan and Guardiola were both dumbfounded.

Which number is this?

Is this the fourth penalty that was saved?

If we include the penalty saved by Schmeichel in extra time, the goalkeepers of both teams had a success rate of over 50% in saving penalties today.

However, what was even more shocking was yet to come. Before the Danish team, which had escaped death, had time to be happy, Jorgensen, the fifth player to score, once again sent the ball into the arms of the opponent's goalkeeper.

So far, Denmark has taken all 5 penalties, but only scored 2 and missed 3! The head coach of the Danish team was almost vomiting blood in anger. It was really outrageous. 5 penalties and 3 missed. Why don't you go to heaven?

Finally, it was the turn of the fifth player of the Croatian team to appear on the field, and the last to appear was Rakitic.

At this moment, all the fans' attention was focused on him, and countless Croatian fans watching in front of the TV were praying for him silently.

It must go in, it must go in! As long as this goal is scored, Croatia will advance to the quarterfinals.

The atmosphere on the field was very solemn. The camera captured the actions of the Croatian head coach. At this time, he buried his head deeply in his knees, not daring to watch the last goal.

There were also many timid fans in the stands who covered their eyes with their hands, including Danish and Croatian fans.

Everyone knows that this penalty kick will determine the life or death of the two teams.

Rakitic took a deep breath and tried to calm himself.

He calmly ran up and kicked the ball steadily. Schmeichel misjudged the direction and the ball flew into the net.

The stands were boiling with excitement. The Croatian players on the field roared and rushed towards Rakitic. The skinny Modric clenched his fists excitedly and jumped high on the grass as if his feet were filled with springs.

Thousands of miles away in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, countless excited fans flooded the streets and squares, waving national flags and celebrating excitedly.

No matter who the next round opponent is, tonight is a carnival night for the Croatians.

"It looks like Croatia will be your next opponent!"

Guardiola and Lin Quan had already stood up and were ready to leave the field. Before leaving, they looked back at the Croatian players who were celebrating wildly on the field.

In today's game, the Croatian team left a deep impression on them.

"Well, this is an opponent worth looking forward to, and also a good touchstone." (End of this chapter)