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Croatia edged Panama one-nil — a rather tense and at the same time rather pragmatic match.

What made it tense: for the vast majority of the match the score stayed nil-nil, and only in the second half did Croatia finally seal the win with a single goal.

Before recapping the match, let's first get to know these two teams.

Croatia comes from Europe, a traditional power in world football with extremely deep heritage.

In the most recent World Cups they've performed superbly, once battling past opponent after opponent to reach a fairly advanced stage, drawing the whole world's attention.

And within this team are a number of hugely experienced veteran players.

They combine seamlessly and read the game very well; the more crucial the battle, the better they tend to keep calm and steady the situation.

Their opponents in this match, Panama, come from Central America, with a clear gap to Croatia in both fame and overall team strength.

But Panama's players are tenacious in style and never give up easily, a team with real fight and real mettle.

And for both teams, this was a must-win, crucial match.

Because in this game, whoever lost would likely be eliminated and end their World Cup journey early.

For all these reasons, from the start both sides on the pitch played especially cautiously and carefully.

Both teams first made their defence very solid, neither daring to push up in numbers, afraid of being caught and conceding first.

And so, for a long stretch, the score in this match stayed firmly at nil-nil.

There weren't many goals on show, but in fact both sides were very tense, every attack and every defensive moment directly bearing on the final direction of the match.

Panama's overall defence was quite tenacious; they dropped into their own rearguard, working hard to protect their goal, making it hard for Croatia to truly break through for a while.

A few times Panama even used quick counters to create a little threat, keeping Croatia from easing off in the slightest.

However, Croatia were, after all, the more experienced and stronger world-class side.

They played patiently, not impatient for success, calmly controlling the tempo and probing, bit by bit, for flaws in the opposing defensive line.

Finally, in the second half, Croatia got a rather precious chance.

Their player Budimir seized that rare chance and calmly finished, helping Croatia take a one-nil lead.

The moment it went in, Croatia's players and fans celebrated wildly, because they all knew exactly how much this one goal weighed in a match like this.

With both teams having few chances, this single goal was extremely crucial.

In such a tense match, whoever can break the deadlock first seizes a huge advantage.

After taking the lead, the experienced Croatia immediately set up to defend solidly.

They knew very well that in this kind of evenly matched game, as long as they could hold the one-goal lead, it often meant taking the whole match.

And the trailing, must-win Panama had no choice but to go all out and pile forward, launching wave after wave of attack at Croatia's goal.

Panama's fans in the stands cheered hopefully again and again, longing for the team to equalise.

However, Croatia's whole defensive line was just as solid, using their rich big-match experience to defuse, time and again, the charges Panama mounted.

Minute by minute the time slipped away, and the territorially dominant Panama still never managed to breach that tenacious opposing goal.

In the end, the match finished one-nil, with the savvy Croatia having the last laugh.

For Croatia, this was a hugely important victory.

It was precisely with these precious three points that they kept their hopes of qualifying smoothly from the group alive.

But for Panama, it was a rather cruel result.

Losing this match meant they were eliminated early, and their World Cup campaign came to an end.

Still, Panama really need not be too dejected.

As a relatively weaker team, just reaching the World Cup finals is already a rather hard-won achievement.

What's more, in this match they faced a world-class power like Croatia, so losing was hardly a surprise.

On the pitch they fought to the very last moment from start to finish, fearless against a strong opponent, and that tenacious spirit still won the respect and applause of countless neutral fans.

After the match, the discussion naturally centred on this game.

Some sincerely praised Croatia as a worthy power of deep heritage and rich experience: the more crucial the battle, the better they keep calm, and the last to laugh in the end.

Others felt for Panama, that they actually played well and only lacked, at the very end, the tiniest bit of luck and experience.

Some also remarked that it was precisely because of an opponent like Panama, daring to spar with a strong team to the very end, that this seemingly bland match stayed tense to the final moment.

Actually, this is exactly the appeal of football, and at the same time its most cruel side: sometimes, a single goal is enough to decide a match, even to decide a team's fate.

And for this very reason, on the highest stage like the World Cup, every goal and every chance is all the more precious — and it's this cruelty that gives the final victory such weight.

Okay, that's the whole story of Panama against Croatia, see you next time.