Croatia v England - England fans heartbroken after Croatia qualify for World Cup final - 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia - Match 62

Their legs had stopped working long before the end. Their muscles ached, their lungs heaved, their bodies creaked and groaned. Croatia’s players had hit their limits and traveled beyond them, yet again; they had drained themselves of adrenaline; they had passed deep into the red, into the pain.

And still, even as their movements grew stiff and their tendons tight, when they were gasping for breath and it looked as though they could not possibly give any more, they kept going, kept chasing, kept running: past England, into the World Cup final, into history.

When the final whistle blew after two periods of extra time and their 2-1 victory was confirmed, several sank to the turf, floored not just by the sheer physical effort they had produced, but by the scale of their achievement.

All but one of the superpowers have gone: Brazil and Germany, Argentina and Spain are out. Croatia, this nation of four million people, remains. Only France stands between this team and what would, most likely, rank as the most remarkable World Cup victory in history.

It has reached the final the hard way, via the scenic route: extra-time and penalties against Denmark, extra-time and penalties against Russia and now this: an exhausting, compelling 120 minutes against England, the sort of epic occasion that only the World Cup can produce.

Croatia had recovered, just as it had in both of the previous rounds, from a deficit, when the outstanding Ivan Perisic canceled out Kieran Trippier’s opener. It had gradually exerted its authority, Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic taking hold of the midfield.

It had also spurned chances to win; so many that it seemed to have spurned the opportunity entirely: Perisic hit the post and missed an open goal, and a sprawling, desperate save from Jordan Pickford, England’s exceptional goalkeeper, denied Mario Mandzukic.

The clock ticked. Penalties — more penalties — loomed. And then, after 110 fraught minutes, England switched off for a single second and Mandzukic, that grizzled old warrior, stole in and smashed home the winner.

He had barely been able to move for what seemed like ages, but now he raced to the corner, cajoling the swaying mass of red-and-white-clad Croatia fans. His teammates sprinted to join him, burying him under a pile of bodies. Beneath all of them was a solitary, helpless photographer, swept off his feet by Croatia’s celebrations.

That was nothing, though, compared to what followed the final whistle. Those Croatian players that could still move ran to their fans once more, the fatigue stripped away by delirium. They danced and sang and soaked up the adulation, savored the moment. Some were passed their children, some were passed their flag — both ended up draped around the players, as a checkerboard sea churned in the stands of the Luzhniki Stadium.

On the halfway line — recast now as a slender divide between hope and despair — England Manager Gareth Southgate stood and watched. His players were at his back, at the other end of the field, applauding their fans, commiserating with them, the mood proud but somber, stony faces and distant eyes.

As this World Cup progressed, England had started to feel that, perhaps, for once, fortune was on its side. Southgate had brought his squad here with more hope than expectation: Most assumed that elimination in the round of 16, or possibly the quarterfinal, was the best that might be achieved.

As Russia 2018’s rebellious spirit started to emerge, though, that changed. England breezed through its group and then won a penalty shootout (and it never does that). As the favorites, in quick succession, were exposed and ejected, a path seemed to open up before Southgate’s young team.

The very prospect sent the country into a frenzy. These have been strange weeks in England, weeks when it has been easy to fall in love: A place of apparently endless sunshine and, with a government teetering on the edge, of chronic uncertainty.

SOURCE:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/11/sports/world-cup/england-vs-croatia.html