Canada eliminated from FIFA World Cup after gutting loss to Croatia

Nov 27 2022, 5:57 pm

Canada put on one heck of a showing at their first men’s FIFA World Cup since 1986.

But their journeyĀ willĀ come to an end after their final group stage match on Thursday against Morocco, with a 4-1 loss to Croatia ending their chances at advancing to the knockout stage of the World Cup.

Canada opened the scoring with one of the fastest goals in FIFA World Cup history, with Alphonso Davies picking up the 1-0 lead by way of a header slightly over a minute into the match.

It was the first ever goal in men’s World Cup history for Canada, who had gone scoreless in its four previous matches in 1986 and this year.

But Croatia came back firing, with Andrej Kramaric and Mark Livaja scoring goals in the 36th and 43rd minutes respectively to give Canada’s opponents a lead heading into halftime.

Croatia then put the game to bed with a 3-1 goal in the 70th minute by Kramaric to double Croatia’s lead.

In the closing stages of the match, Lovro Majer added a fourth goal to put the game completely out of reach.

Croatia had previously finished second in the 2018 World Cup, losing in the final by a 4-2 score to France.

Despite a number of second-half chances, Canada was unable to capitalize and suffered its fifth World Cup defeat in as many matches.

Canada can finish no higher than third in the Group F final standings, with all three other teams having registered at least a win so far.

Canada fell 1-0 to Belgium in the opening match, while Morocco and Croatia played to a 0-0 draw. Earlier today, Morocco topped the Belgians 2-0 to head to the top of the group.

While they don’t have a chance at advancing, Canada will still have a final match at the World Cup on Thursday, when they take on Morocco at 7 am PT/10 am ET.

Belgium and Croatia will play their match at the same time, with the top two teams in the group advancing to the Round of 16.

Upcoming Canada World Cup schedule:

Morocco ā€” December 1, 7 am PT/10 am ET

Adam LaskarisAdam Laskaris

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