Round of 16 action at the U20 World Cup in Turkey continued today at Bursa Atatürk stadium, with Chile taking on Croatia. Chile finished second to Iraq in Group E, while Croatia topped Group F with two wins and a draw. It was a well contested match with plenty of chances for both sides, but Chile came out 2-0 winners and advance to face Ghana in the quarter finals.
The game started slowly, with both teams aware of the reduced margin for error in the knockout rounds. The match went without a chance until the 12th minute, when a Croatian corner fell to the feet of defender Jozo Šimunović, but he couldn't connect with the ball. One of the great individual battles of the game was established early, with Chilean left winger Cristián Cuevas causing problems for Croatian fullback Toni Gorupec. Gorupec was booked in the 13th minute and would have missed the next match had Croatia advanced.
The teams traded forays forward in the first thirty minutes, with Cuevas and Ángelo Henríquez looking dangerous for Chile in wide areas, while Croatians Marko Livaja and Ante Rebić caused problems at the other end. The two teams began to create some more opportunities, and Chile had perhaps their best chance of the opening half when striker Nicolás Castillo found himself in space just outside of the box, but he blasted his shot over the bar.
Around the half hour mark, Croatia started to see some good chances of their own. First, Rebić collected the ball at the top of the box and made a good effort to force a save out of the Chilean keeper Darío Melo. Croatia kept the rebound and Livaja took on the keeper with some dangerous dribbling, but Melo was able to get the ball cleanly despite taking down Livaja in the process.
As the first half came to a close, it was Chile who looked more dangerous and had more possession, but Croatia had done better with the chances they had. The teams went into the locker room with no score at the break.
Croatia came out with more energy to start the second half and began to win back more possession. Livaja again was dangerous and danced around several defenders only to shoot over in the 49th minute.
Chile responded well, with Henríquez and Cuevas trying their luck from distance, but could not get the ball on target properly. The teams started to show more ambition as the match went end to end, with both sides looking for the opening goal.
In the 56th minute, Chile made their first substitution, with midfielder Nicolás Maturana swapping places with Óscar Hernández. Two minutes later, Sebastián Martínez went into the referee's book, meaning he will not feature in the next round against Ghana. Croatia also made some substitutes around the hour mark, trying to find a difference maker.
Another great battle in the wide areas was Rebić against fullback Felipe Campos, and the Croatian got past the Chilean in the 60th minute only to shoot right at Melo. A minute later at the other end, Maturana was brought down outside of the box and his resulting costless kick could not quite dip under the bar.
Croatia continued to fight for a goal and had a great chance in the 64th minute. Rebić again took on several defenders coming in from the left and pulled the ball back for Dario Čanađija, but the shot went just wide.
Both sides made more substitutes as the match headed towards the 70th minute, with Filip Mrzljak coming off for Danijel Miškić and Christian Bravo replacing Cuevas. In the 71st minute, a Chilean corner was cleared by Croatia but not far enough, and Čanađija fouled fullback Mario Larenas just outside the penalty area. Castillo made a great effort on the resulting costless kick but it was well saved by Oliver Zelenika.
The breakthrough finally came for Chile in the 81st minute with a wonderfully worked goal. Martínez chipped the ball over the defense to an unmarked Castillo, who timed his run perfectly to stay onside. Castillo had his back to the goal as he headed the ball over Zelenika and into the net. It was the third goal of the tournament for the Chilean striker.
With the late goal, Croatia needed to press for an equalizer to have any hope of going through, and made their last substitution in the 83rd minute, bringing on Marko Pajač for Marko Pjaca. However, it was not to be for the Europeans as an own goal from Šimunović just two minutes later effectively ending the game. The substitue Bravo appeared just a hair offside, but he brought down a long ball and beat fullback Ivan Aleksić for pace to send a low cross into the box. The ball took an unfortunate deflection off Šimunović into the roof of the net to make it 2-0.
Croatia kept fighting with Rebić and Livaja still creating chances, but they were unable to get even one goal, and Chile managed to run out the clock with a clean sheet. A disappointing loss for Croatia for sure, but Chile got a well-deserved victory and advance to the quarter finals.
