Mission accomplished as Mario Pašalić’s Croatia punched their ticket to the quarterfinals to be played next Friday, the 9th of December at 16:00 CET. The Vatreni defeated Japan, the dark horse of the tournament so far, in the Round of 16 one-leg fixture on penalties after regular and extra times alike resulted in a 1-1 tie.
SuperMario Pašalić himself, after being subbed on 68 minutes into the match, scored the decisive penalty kick to win the shoot-out and send Croatia to the next stage.

To give a snapshot of the penalty shoot-out, whereas Croatia scored 3 out of the 4 spot kicks, Japan only bagged 1 out of 4.

The opponents waiting for the checkered team in the quarterfinals are none other than Brazil, as the Seleção defeated South Korea 4-1.