Croatia downs Canada 4-1 at World Cup on Kramaric’s 2 goals

By ANNE M. PETERSON AP Sports Writer

AL RAYYAN, Qatar — Croatia bounced back strong and knocked Canada right out of its first World Cup in 36 years.

The 2018 runners-up got two goals from Andrej Kramaric on Sunday in a 4-1 victory over a Canadian team that has been eliminated after two matches in Qatar.

Alphonso Davies scored Canada’s first-ever World Cup goal one minute into the match but Marko Livaja and Lovro Majer also scored for Croatia, which lost to France in the final four years ago in Russia and opened with a scoreless draw against Morocco.

Luka Modric, the 37-year-old captain who runs the midfield for Croatia, is still looking for his first goal of the tournament in what is likely his final World Cup.

Croatia and Morocco, which caused another upset at this year’s tournament by beating Belgium 2-0 earlier Sunday, both have four points in Group F. Belgium has three points and still has a chance to advance.

Canada, however, earned no points from its first two matches and can’t advance even if it beats Morocco on Thursday in its final match. Croatia and Belgium will play at the same time.

Davies, who plays for Bayern Munich, headed a cross from Tajon Buchanan just out of goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic’s reach 1 minute, 8 seconds into the match. The goal had the swath of red-shirted Canadian fans chanting “Can-a-da! Can-a-da!” at Khalifa International Stadium.

Kramaric appeared to score another for Croatia in the 26th minute but he was ruled offside. His second chance counted about 10 minutes later, making it 1-1.

Livaja put Croatia in front with a blast from outside the penalty box in the 44th minute, Kramaric added his second in the 70th and Majer scored in stoppage time.