{"id":1290741,"date":"2022-12-05T18:12:32","date_gmt":"2022-12-05T18:12:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1290741"},"modified":"2022-12-05T19:14:44","modified_gmt":"2022-12-05T19:14:44","slug":"japan-croatia-world-cup-ivan-perisic-jose-mourinho","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/japan-croatia-world-cup-ivan-perisic-jose-mourinho\/","title":{"rendered":"Ivan Perisic\u2019s World Cup brilliance has left egg on the face of Ed Woodward\u2019s \u201crecruitment experts\u201d comment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ivan Perisic was at the heart of Croatia’s turnaround against Japan in the World Cup last 16 on Monday afternoon.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Samurai Blue<\/em> were deservedly leading at the break thanks to Daizen Maeda’s opening strike, but Perisic clawed his side back into the game shortly after the restart with a bullet header out of nowhere.<\/p>\n

The World Cup 2018 runners-up were going through the motions before Perisic decided to turn protagonist, converting unlikely assist-provider Dejan Lovren’s cross with supreme execution and conviction.<\/p>\n\n

That parity-restorer means the versatile Tottenham wide-man is now the first player in Croatia’s history to score 10 major tournament goals for his country. He is also one of only four players, alongside Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Xherdan Shaqiri to score in each of the last three World Cups.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s illustrious company, but Perisic more than holds his own there. And it was his equalising goal that ultimately kept the two nations at bay, before proceedings were decided by the first penalty shoot-out of the tournament, with Croatia winning 3-1.<\/p>\n\n

Dominik Livakovic saved three<\/em><\/strong> penalties to steal the headlines, but Perisic’s earlier work laid the foundations for a memorable comeback. Zlatko Dalic’s men can now prepare to face either Brazil or South Korea in the quarter-finals, with deep tournament runs now becoming standard practice for the nation.<\/p>\n

Of course, Perisic\u2019s moment of game-changing brilliance is nothing new. The ageing yet still pre-eminently fit wide-man has been producing for some of Europe’s finest clubs since bursting onto the scene for Club Brugge over a decade ago now.<\/p>\n

\n

A reminder that Ivan Peri\u0161i\u0107 has also represented Croatia at international level in the Beach Volleyball Mayor Series. ?<\/p>\n

The man do everything. #Vatreni<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/LziziwCLUa<\/a><\/p>\n

— Squawka (@Squawka) December 5, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n