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MOTD- Croatia 0-1 Scotland

By on June 7, 2013

Robert Snodgrass was the hero as Scotland pulled of a shock win over Croatia in Zagreb, taking Gordon Strachan’s side out of last place in Uefa Group A of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers. Croatia, who had come into the match unbeaten in the qualifying group stages, are currently ranked a quite astonishing fourth place in the FIFA World Rankings, while their Scottish opponents lag seventy-six places behind in seventy-ninth. Still, the Tartan Terriers managed to pull a major shock, giving them a valuable three points.

Scotland surprisingly enjoyed much of the position in the opening minutes, while Croatia were struggling to get underway. Barry Bannan played a thirty-yard free-kick short to James Morrison, who then rifled a shot over the bar, before Croatia’s Ivan Perisic fired wide from range. Both sides were failing to create shots, until Scotland amazingly took the lead through a careless piece of defending from Croatia in the twenty-sixth minute. Shaun Maloney romped through the middle of the Croatia half after receiving Leigh Griffiths’ header-pass, but a misplaced touch played the ball into the path of a Croatia defender, who the clumsily kicked it into the unoccupied box. Robert Snodgrass quickly pounced on the loosee ball, and poked it past an oncoming Croatia goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa into the back of the net from eight yards.

Croatia responded well to the goal, putting heavy pressure on the Scotland defense. Igor Stimac’s side really should have taken the lead in the thirty-fifth minute when Sammir collected Grant Hanley’s horribly misplaced back-pass, but Sammir somehow managed to volley it miles over the bar from the edge of the box while Scotland goalkeeper Allan McGregor was stranded in no-mans-land. Ivan Rakitic then came inches away from giving Croatia an equalizer with a bullet header towards the near-post, but despite being heavily dominant Croatia had trouble finding a the back of the net.

Stimac’s side continued their search of a goal in the second half, with Rakitic rifling a dipping effort just over the crossbar two minutes into the half, before Ivica Olic’s tempting ball from the left whizzed inches away from the foot of Mario Mandzukic at the far post. But despite their dominance, Croatia could not grab an equalizer, and after three minutes of added time the match ended 1-0, with Scotland claiming a historic win.
Man of the Match: Robert Snodgrass

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.