Croatia surprises Mexico in international friendly, wins 2-1

By Chris Kudialis

Saturday, May 27, 2017 | 10:01 p.m.

Lovre Kalinic had 12 saves and forwards Duje Cop and Fran Tudor scored back-to-back goals in a span of less than a minute in the opening half to lead Croatia to a 2-1 victory over Mexico in the European nation’s first-ever game on North American soil.

More than 50,000 fans attended the game, the vast majority supporting Mexico, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. It was the penultimate tune up game for Juan Carlos Osorio’s squad before resuming qualifying matches next month for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

“We competed in the first half and dominated the second,” Osorio said after the game. “We’re very close to competing at a high level.”

Mexico took 21 shots on goal, 12 of which were stopped by Croatian goalkeeper Kalinic. Wearing a pink keeper’s uniform with full sleeves and pant legs, Kalinic had stopped everything Saturday until Javier Hernandez scored in the 87th minute. Mexico’s players did not speak with the media after the game.

Croatia nearly scored in the 21st minute, but a header from midfielder Zoran Nizic from eight yards out, set up by a corner kick, was stopped by Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa.

The Blazers scored in the 36 minute, when a bicycle pass from midfielder Ivan Sunjic found Tudor five yards out on the right side of the goal. Tudor connected with a wide-open Cop in front of the goal, who blasted the ball home to put Croatia ahead 1-0.

Less than a minute later, Tudor intercepted a slow pass from Mexican defenseman Diego Reyes to Ochoa, put a quick juke on the goalkeeper, and scored over a diving Ochoa.

The stadium, which debuted in 1923 and has hosted both the Olympic Games and the Super Bowl among other major international sporting events, lit its famous torch at halftime during a performance from a Los Angeles mariachi band. The torch stayed lit for the rest of the game.

Mexico saw its best scoring chances in the 54th and 62nd minutes before Hernandez entered. Both shots were stopped by Kalinic, and a third in the 66th minute by Mexican forward Hirving Lozano from less than four yards out sailed just right of the goal.

Hernandez entered in the 67th minute and scored Mexico’s first and only goal 20 minutes later on a header set up by a corner kick. The goal was Hernandez’ 47th for el Tricolor, breaking a tie with Jared Borgetti and placing him alone as Mexico’s all-time leading goal scorer.

The win was Croatia’s third in five total games against Mexico. Before Saturday’s game, the two countries had last played in the group stage of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Croatian manager Ante Cacic said the win showed the character of his team, who played Saturday without its players from clubs in the strongest leagues in Europe, including Real Madrid’s Luke Modric and Mateo Kovacic and Inter Milan’s Ivan Perisic. Cacic also thanked the nearly 5,000 red and white-checkered jersey-wearing Croatian fans who came from across the United States to support their team.

“This was a historic game for us and this is an incredible moment,” Cacic said through an interpreter. “Our players feel rewarded for their play today.”