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06/27 18:06 CDT Vlasic scores winner as Croatia beats Ghana 2-1 to reach World
Cup knockout stage
Vlasic scores winner as Croatia beats Ghana 2-1 to reach World Cup knockout
stage
By DAN GELSTON
AP Sports Writer
PHILADELPHIA (AP) --- Croatia earned a spot in the World Cup knockout round,
getting goals from Nikola Vlasic and Luka Sucic to beat Ghana 2-1 on Saturday.
Ghana had already clinched a spot in the round of 32 for the first time since
2010.
Vlasic headed home Luka Modric's corner in the 83rd minute to score the winner
and put Croatia back in contention after it finished third in 2022. The win
means Croatia finished second behind England in Group L, with Ghana third.
Sucic scored in the 31st minute for Croatia on an absolute rocket from outside
the box for his second career international goal.
Derrick Luckassen scored the equalizer that ---- after a brief review --- sent
thousands of fans wearing yellow into a frenzy. Luckassen, brother of the
Netherlands' Brian Brobbey, found the bottom right corner in the 73rd minute to
make it 1-1 and the first of the five group stage games in Philadelphia where
both teams scored.
Ghana goalie Benjamin Asare briefly kept it a tie game on a diving stop off the
top of his hand that sent the ball over the net but failed only a minute later
to stop Vlasic.
Vlasic wagged his tongue and ran toward his teammates with outstretched arms in
celebration.
Sucic helped Croatia take a 1-0 lead into halftime in a game where a couple of
near misses prevented it from building a more comfortable lead. Nikola Vlasic
bonked one of the posts earlier in the half, and Modric's cross on a free kick
into the box was headed over the bar by Marin Pongracic.
Ghana seemed poised to tie the game late in the half when Antoine Semenyo beat
his man and fired a shot that slid across the Kentucky bluegrass and went just
wide of the left post.
Semenyo was one of the few prominent attackers in this tournament to go without
a goal in the first three games. He finished third in the Premier League with
17 goals last season and was one of Manchester City's best players after it
bought him from Bournemouth, yet couldn't connect in the World up against
Panama, England and even Croatia's backline.
Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbapp and Erling Haaland have dazzled in the World Cup
where every game has seemed like a showcase for the tournament's top stars.
The good news for Semenyo is, there's at least one more shot for him to bust
through for Ghana.
___
See more of AP's World Cup coverage here
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