Celtic defender Josip Juranovic helped Croatia to a crucial World Cup victory today as they beat Canada 4-1 to take control of Group F.
It looked as if the Croats would be in for a difficult afternoon, but they weathered an early Canada storm and their quality eventually told, scoring two in each half to dispatch their opponents with relative ease
Juranovic was culpable for Canada’s early opener, as Bayern star Alphonso Davies ran off the Celtic man’s blindside to power a header down into the Croatia net inside two minutes for the fastest goal of the World Cup so far.
Davies has menaced many a team at club level for Bayern Munich and Croatia were no different, he was evidently the key man for Canada and was at the heart of everything positive they did on the day, having missed a penalty in their opening-day defeat to Belgium.
Juranovic nearly made up for his error with a clever pass inside Celtic target Alistair Johnston on the edge of the Canada box but the Montreal man was alert to Ivan Perisic’s run, with the Spurs winger eventually conceding the foul.
He eventually did make amends with a driving run off his flank, eventually sneaking the ball into Marko Livaja who thumped it low past Canada keeper Milan Borjan for 2-1, ten minutes after Andrej Kramaric’s clinical equaliser.
After the early wobble, he regained his composure and was far more like his normal self as Croatia took control of the match, helping to snuff Davies and co. out in a far more disciplined second-half display, with the Celtic man far less defensively tested as Canada ran out of steam as match progressed.
Croatia added serious gloss to the score-line late in the game through Kramaric’s second and Lovro Majer’s injury-time tap-in, but they had dominated the match from midway through the first half and were good value for their win in the end.
Juranovic completed 29 of 36 attempted passes over the 90 minutes (an 81% success rate), with six of these being played into the final third, and created a single chance which was converted by Livaja. He was dispossessed once, and won his single tackle, making six clearances, four recoveries, and a single interception, and neither gained nor conceded a foul against the Canadians. [Fotmob/Opta].
Four points is Croatia’s total after two matches, with Canada’s two defeats handing them an early exit, with Morocco blowing the group wide open after their win over Belgium earlier today.
Croatia’s next match is a huge showdown with Belgium on Thursday (3pm UK time), with a point enough for Juranovic’s side to guarantee progression to the last sixteen of the competition.
Of course, it wasn’t just Juranovic who Celtic fans would have been keen to see in this particular match, as BBC commentator Steve Wilson dropped a significant update in the club’s pursuit of Canada full-back of Alistair Johnston.
In other news: The Alistair Johnston verdict as Celtic target exits World Cup with Canada
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