Croatia defeats Iceland and secures its place in the next round.
The first leg of the tie ended 0-0, and with goals from Mandzukic and Srna in the return leg in Zagreb, the Croatians qualified for their fourth World Cup; the striker Eduardo da Silva, a Brazilian who became a naturalized Croatian citizen, was also part of the squad that played in the European Qualifiers.
World Cup Portal - Even with one player less since the 37th minute of the first half, Croatia managed a 2-0 victory over Iceland in Zagreb and qualified for the 2014 World Cup. As the first leg of the European Qualifiers playoff ended 0-0 in Iceland, the Croatians only needed a simple victory to secure their place.
Urged on by their fans, the Croatian players went on the attack against Iceland from the start of the game. After much pressure, Croatia opened the scoring in the 27th minute of the first half. Following Croatia's fifth corner kick of the match, the ball fell to Mandzukic, who simply had to push it into the net.
Ten minutes after scoring, Mandzukic made a violent tackle on Gudmundsson and was sent off by Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers. But Croatia extended their lead early in the second half. Kovacic made a good run through the middle and passed to captain Darijo Srna on the right to finish and make it 2-0 a minute into the second half.
With the victory, Croatia qualified for its fourth World Cup in history. The last time the Croatians participated in the World Cup was in 2006, in Germany. In 1998, the team achieved its best placement, third place. Croatian striker Davor Suker finished that World Cup as top scorer, having scored six goals during the tournament.
Besides striker Mario Mandzukic, who plays for Bayern Munich, the Croatian national team, coached by Igor Stimac, has other standout players, such as midfielders Luka Modric, from Real Madrid, and Mateo Kovacic, from Inter Milan. Striker Eduardo da Silva, a Brazilian who became a naturalized Croatian citizen, was also part of the squad that played in the European Qualifiers. In the FIFA ranking of October 2013, Croatia appears in 18th position.