VARAZDIN, Croatia, June 7 (Reuters) – Croatia substitute Mario Pasalic grabbed a stoppage-time winner to edge neighbours Slovenia 2-1 in their friendly international on Sunday and head to the World Cup on a winning note.
It was the final warm-up game for the Croats, who have reached at least the final four of the last two World Cups, before departing for the tournament in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. They will open their campaign against England in Dallas on June 17.
Captain Luka Modric, playing possibly his last home international, fittingly scored to give Croatia an early second-half lead, but a horror back pass allowed Slovenia substitute Andraz Sporar to equalise in the 83rd minute.
Pasalic’s volleyed effort three minutes into stoppage time came as a relief for the Croatians, who will consider themselves fortunate to have won the game.
The 40-year-old Modric cleverly placed a shot from the edge of the area into the net in the 51st minute after being set up by a square pass by Perisic. It was Modric’s 29th goal in 198 appearances.
A defensive slip, however, from Martin Baturina gifted Sporar the chance to fire home from close range, which he did without hesitation.
But Slovenia failed to clear a bouncing ball in their area with time running out, and Pasalic snapped up the chance to volley into the net.
Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic had earlier made several key stops, notably from Zan Vipotnik.
Croatia had been beaten last Tuesday 2-0 by Belgium in Rijeka in the first of the two warm-up internationals arranged ahead of the World Cup, where Croatia also play against Ghana and Panama in Group L.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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