Croatia Beats Brazil on Penalties in World Cup Quarterfinals 

(FromL) Croatia's defender #22 Josip Juranovic, Croatia's defender #06 Dejan Lovren, Croatia's midfielder #10 Luka Modric, Croatia's midfielder #13 Nikola Vlasic, Croatia's goalkeeper #12 Ivo Grbic, Croatia's defender #05 Martin Erlic, Croatia's forward #17 Ante Budimir, Croatia's forward #18 Mislav Orsic and Croatia's midfielder #04 Ivan Perisic celebrate with their supporters after they won the Qatar 2022 World Cup quarter-final football match between Croatia and Brazil at Education City Stadium in Al-Rayyan, west of Doha, on December 9, 2022. (AFP)
(FromL) Croatia's defender #22 Josip Juranovic, Croatia's defender #06 Dejan Lovren, Croatia's midfielder #10 Luka Modric, Croatia's midfielder #13 Nikola Vlasic, Croatia's goalkeeper #12 Ivo Grbic, Croatia's defender #05 Martin Erlic, Croatia's forward #17 Ante Budimir, Croatia's forward #18 Mislav Orsic and Croatia's midfielder #04 Ivan Perisic celebrate with their supporters after they won the Qatar 2022 World Cup quarter-final football match between Croatia and Brazil at Education City Stadium in Al-Rayyan, west of Doha, on December 9, 2022. (AFP)
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Croatia Beats Brazil on Penalties in World Cup Quarterfinals 

(FromL) Croatia's defender #22 Josip Juranovic, Croatia's defender #06 Dejan Lovren, Croatia's midfielder #10 Luka Modric, Croatia's midfielder #13 Nikola Vlasic, Croatia's goalkeeper #12 Ivo Grbic, Croatia's defender #05 Martin Erlic, Croatia's forward #17 Ante Budimir, Croatia's forward #18 Mislav Orsic and Croatia's midfielder #04 Ivan Perisic celebrate with their supporters after they won the Qatar 2022 World Cup quarter-final football match between Croatia and Brazil at Education City Stadium in Al-Rayyan, west of Doha, on December 9, 2022. (AFP)
(FromL) Croatia's defender #22 Josip Juranovic, Croatia's defender #06 Dejan Lovren, Croatia's midfielder #10 Luka Modric, Croatia's midfielder #13 Nikola Vlasic, Croatia's goalkeeper #12 Ivo Grbic, Croatia's defender #05 Martin Erlic, Croatia's forward #17 Ante Budimir, Croatia's forward #18 Mislav Orsic and Croatia's midfielder #04 Ivan Perisic celebrate with their supporters after they won the Qatar 2022 World Cup quarter-final football match between Croatia and Brazil at Education City Stadium in Al-Rayyan, west of Doha, on December 9, 2022. (AFP)

Croatia knocked Brazil out of the World Cup on Friday, beating the five-time champions 4-2 in a penalty shootout to reach the semifinals for the second straight time. 

Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic saved a penalty attempt by Rodrygo and Marquinhos later hit the post. 

The match had finished 1-1 after extra time, with both goals coming in the additional 30 minutes. Neymar scored late in the first half of extra time to give Brazil the lead, but Croatia equalized when Bruno Petkovic scored in the 117th. 

Neymar’s goal moved him into a tie with Pelé as Brazil’s all-time leading scorer with 77 goals. 

Croatia will next face either Argentina or the Netherlands to try to return to the World Cup final four years after losing the title to France. 

Five of Croatia's last six matches at World Cups have gone to extra time, including in its penalty shootout win over Japan in the round of 16 in Qatar. The team has been successful in eight of its last 10 knockout matches at the tournament. 

Brazil was trying to return to the semifinals for the first time since 2014. The team hadn’t made it to the last four since hosting the tournament eight years ago, when the Selecao was embarrassed by Germany 7-1. 

Brazil was trying to defeat a European opponent in the knockout stage of the World Cup for the first time since the 2002 final against Germany, when the team won for the last time. 



Spurs Boss Postecoglou Urges Out-of-Favor Johnson to Keep Working

Football - Premier League - Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool - Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, Britain - December 22, 2024 Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou looks dejected after the match. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool - Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, Britain - December 22, 2024 Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou looks dejected after the match. (Reuters)
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Spurs Boss Postecoglou Urges Out-of-Favor Johnson to Keep Working

Football - Premier League - Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool - Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, Britain - December 22, 2024 Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou looks dejected after the match. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool - Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, Britain - December 22, 2024 Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou looks dejected after the match. (Reuters)

Tottenham Hotspur winger Brennan Johnson will eventually return to the starting line-up as coach Ange Postecoglou looks to shuffle his pack during a busy run, the Australian said on Tuesday ahead of a trip to Nottingham Forest.

Johnson, 23, had a promising spell earlier in the season during which he scored six goals in nine Premier League matches, but has fallen out of favor in recent weeks due to the form of teammate Dejan Kulusevski.

"Brennan just needs to keep doing what he's doing. I've had Deki (Kulusevski) there and he's done really well and scoring goals," Postecoglou told reporters ahead of Thursday's match.

"It's about the balance of the team. It's about managing that load. We're already overburdening some of the players up there. Brennan will get his minutes."

Spurs will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing 6-3 loss at home to leaders Liverpool on Sunday, which left the north London outfit 11th in the standings and eight points behind fourth-placed Forest.

With the club struggling in the league and still involved in both the Europa League and League Cup, Postecoglou said the squad would need to be reinforced in the winter transfer window.

"We will be short in a couple of areas and we are going to need a boost, but January is a bit tricky in terms of what sort of players you can bring in," he added.

"For us, ideally - and for any club I guess - it would be people that are going to make you stronger. But I think the fact that we're in the League Cup semi-finals, we've still got Europe, we're in the FA Cup, we're in all of the competitions - it's not like our schedule will ease up at any stage.

"So, it makes sense to try and reinforce but where and what number we will sort of have to wait and see."

Postecoglou also said the Spurs squad had no new absences, adding: "Destiny (Udogie) was on the bench (against Liverpool) but wasn't 100% quite right and should be right.

"(Rodrigo) Bentancur is available after his suspension. That's kind of it for now."