Croatia come from behind to ease past Canada

Canada have been knocked out of the World Cup after suffering a heavy 4-1 defeat to Croatia on Sunday at the Khalifa International Stadium.

Action: It was best start possible for Canada, as they took the lead with just two minutes played, scoring their first ever goal at the World Cup.

Alphonso Davies with acres of space in the box, powered a header past Dominik Livakovic after a great cross from Tajon Buchanan.

Croatia started to cope with Canada’s high intensity in the first minutes of the game and started to be more dominant midway the first half.

Just before the half-hour, former Leicester forward Andrej Kramaric played a one-two with Marko Livaja then the Hoffenheim man ran through and slotted it in the bottom corner, but the goal was chalked off after an offside in the build-up.

The Croatians found an equliser in the 37th minute, after Ivan Perisic with a reverse pass found Kramaric, who fired a shot into the far corner from a tight angle.

The 2018 World Cup runners-up went in front on the brink of half-time after the ball fell into the path of Marko Livaja on the edge of the penalty area and he fired a low strike into the net.

Zlatko Dalic's men added a third and put the game to bed with 70 minutes on the clock, when Kramaric received the ball from Perisic, shifted the ball on to his left foot and dispatched it low into the bottom corner.

A Kamal Miller mistake was punished by Mislav Orsic and Lovro Majer, with the latter adding a fourth in stoppage time.

Big Picture: The result leaves Croatia top of Group F with four points and knocked Canada out of the tournament.

John Herdman's side have no points after two games while Morocco and Croatia sit on four points with Belgium on three.

For the final fixture of the goup stage, Canada will take on Morocco, while Croatia face Belgium to secure a spot in the Last 16.

Man of the Match: Andrej Kramaric. A brace in a World Cup game is a memorable moment for any player and the 31-year-old forward fully derserves it after a tremendous performance. The energy and intensity he delivered left the Canadian defence always in constant alert 

xG: Croatia (3.16) 4-1 (0.51) Canada

Stat of the day: Canada have lost all five of their World Cup matches to date - only El Salvador (6) have played more games in the competition while losing on each occasion.