Lionel Messi once again failed to inspire his team as Ante Rebic, Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic netted once each to take Croatia through to the round of 16 from their group.
Argentina on the other hand, are on the verge of elimination as they have only one point from two games so far and will next face Nigeria on Tuesday in a must-win clash in St. Petersburg.
Messi, who hasn’t scored a single goal in the tournament so far and missed a penalty in the 1-1 draw against Iceland in their opening game, was kept under check by the Croatian defense throughout the duration of the match in Nizhny Novgorod.
Croatia captain Modric later revealed how plotted Messi’s downfall and they kept the best player in the world quiet.
“We cut off Messi, stopped him receiving the ball, he’s their most dangerous player,” Modric said after the match.
It all started in the 53rd minute when Rebic capitalised on a huge mistake from the opposition goalkeeper Caballero to put his team ahead. Rebic’s strike was also Croatia’s first shot at goal in the second half.
Argentina tried very hard to fight back from the early goal in the second half but couldn’t convert any of their chances into goals.
Croatia took full advantage of the fledgling Argentine defense with Modric doubling the lead in the 80th minute with a stunning goal which beating Caballero all ends up.
Messi’s Barcelona teammate Rakitic then finished the job and put the game beyond Argentina’s reach in injury time to take Croatia through to the knockouts.
The most important objective has been realised. We’ve got to take it game by game, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This win will boost our confidence for the coming games.
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