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SBI World Cup Player of the Day: Ivan Perisic

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With his team down a goal and hunting to stay alive in the World Cup, Ivan Perisic was the hero Croatia needed to advance to the tournament final.

Perisic beat Kyle Walker to a cross and kickstarted Croatia’s incredible comeback against England. The 29-year-old midfielder’s 68th-minute equalizer energized the Croatians in the second half and extra time of the 2-1 victory, earning Perisic honors as SBI World Cup Man of the Match.

The Inter Milan midfielder came up huge again for the Croatians in the 109th minute, as his pass in the direction of the left side of the box found Mario Mandzukic for the game-winning goal.

Perisic’s remarkable performance was the best out of a collection of strong showings from the Croatians, who won their third straight game in extra time at the World Cup.

Perisic and Croatia are headed to Sunday’s final, the first ever in the nation’s history, to take on France at the Luzhniki Stadium.

Comments

  1. I thought Modric was the most important player for Croatia. He kept them in the game for long stretches, of course, it is hard to ignore the guy who scored the goal that tied the game for Croatia. Without Modric’s endless work and skillful play, I think, England would have come away with more than the single goal.

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  2. I am still trying to figure out why Croatia was the underdog? Their players play with the best clubs in the world. Dunno just seemed odd.

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    • If you are referring to betting odds, that has a lot more to do with the volume of bets placed on England in this (or any) World Cup than the actual probability of winning. There are a few studies that discuss this on this, but historically, it is supposedly true that the only way bookmakers can lose money on a World Cup is if England wins. A lot of this has to do with the legalized nature of sports betting in Britain as well as the relative affluence of their population…. regardless, England’s odds of winning any match are typically overstated compared to the actual probability based on “intrinsic” competitive factors (whatever that means).

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