Croatia became the first team to reach the final of a World Cup after being 0-1 down in all their knockout matches.
Croatia became the first team to reach the final of a World Cup after being 0-1 down in all their knockout matches.
The Croats, who play France on Sunday in the FIFA World Cup 2018 final, fought back to beat England 2-1 in extra time in the semifinal, securing a first final appearance.
Croatia were trailing against Denmark and Russia in their previous game too. However, they fought back to win the matches on penalty shootouts.
Croatia's semifinal against England also went into extra-time but Mario Mandzukic scored in the second half to ensure his team did not have to go through the agony of another penalty shootout.
Croatia also became the lowest ranked team ever to reach a World Cup final. Croatia are also the smallest nation to reach the final of a World Cup in 68 years (since Uruguay in 1950). Croatia has a population of 4,000,000 people.
Croatia's strength of character will serve them well in the World Cup final against France, their coach and players said after they came from behind for the third straight knockout match to beat England on Wednesday.
"It was a very difficult game for us," said man of the match Ivan Perisic, who cancelled out Kieran Trippier's early goal with a fine effort of his own.
Team mate Mario Mandzukic then struck in the 109th minute to complete their third straight comeback win.
"We knew what was at stake and how important the semi-final is for a small country like Croatia," Perisic added. "We started slowly today but we showed our character and again came from a goal behind just like we did in the previous knockout rounds."
Their victory on Wednesday propelled them a step further than they managed at the 1998 World Cup, when they lost to hosts France in the last four.
"Twenty years ago I was back at home in my hometown and I rooted for Croatia wearing the Croatia jersey. I could only dream of playing for my country and scoring one of the most important goals to reach the final," Perisic said.
Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic said their extra-time victory was deserved and his players were not yet finished despite playing a lot of football in the past three rounds.
"We deserved to reach the final. What the lads played tonight was fantasy, they've made history," Dalic said. "We haven't said our last word, there is still one more game to go. God willing, we will be world champions."
(With Reuters inputs)
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