Unfortunately, Croatia once again missed a great opportunity, but I think that to win against the biggest ones you still need to play at a much higher level. I honestly expected a much better game by both teams with a lot of goals, but this new Spain is not yet as good as the one from the last European Championship when it beat Croatia in extra time.
Penalty kicks are always a lottery, and this time luck was on Spain's side. Still, being in the finals for a small country of 3.8 million people is also a great success, especially if we take into account all the successes in just over 30 years of existence of the modern Croatian state.
Penalty kicks are always a lottery, and this time luck was on Spain's side. Still, being in the finals for a small country of 3.8 million people is also a great success, especially if we take into account all the successes in just over 30 years of existence of the modern Croatian state.
Thats right. Although Croatian national team is still without a gold, it has won three medals at major competitions in the last five years under the leadership of the current coach. This is truly an accomplishment that fills the entire nation with pride, and a significant amount of credit for this achievement goes to coach Dalić, though I don't want to overlook the immense talent possessed by the players of this generation.
Both teams put up a strong performance last night, but this time luck favored the Spanish side in penalty kicks. However, I have no complaints as the game remained intense and exciting until the very last moment, even though we didn't witness a goal throughout regular time or extra time.
Simon really deserves to be called as the man of the match I think. Because if it weren't for his amazing saves on 2 penalties Spain might not have been the champions maybe. Laporta's targeting the crossbar must have made the fans really nervous but Simon was there again to relieve them.
