Malta: Croatia 0-1
After months of uncertainty, thanks to disastrous games in Azerbaijan and Norway, Croatian national team finally qualified for the EURO 2016 as the second ranked team in Group H thanks to a win gainst Malta 0:1 on Tuesday, October 13th.
Apart from having to win this game, Croatian team was also eagerly awaiting results from the second match between Italy and Norway, since Italy’s win would push us to the tournament and in case Norway won we would have been forced into the additional qualifying round. Norway was leading until 74th minute after scoring from the only chance they had in the entire game, but Italy woke up midway through the second half winning 2-1.
The game itself was very slow and uneventful. As if you were playing a PS game in slow motion. After few near misses, Perišić finally scored in 25th minute after a great play by Kovačić and Pjaca. Second half showed more promise in terms of action, but both Kalinić and Pjaca failed short in final executions. But, in the end, it’s the final result that counts, not the beauty and excitement of the game.
Now the team will be able to relax for a while, their ticket to France has been confirmed.
