Charles Jackson
An international football tournament wouldn’t feel complete without Croatia flirting with disaster before heroically pulling a result from the fire – or at least thinking they did. UEFA Euro 2024 now has that, after Zlatko Dalic’s men came from behind to concede an early goal to beat Albania 2-1, only to be held late. Qazim Laci looked to have given Sylvinho’s Kuqezinjtë a narrow victory at Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion before a two-minute blitz from Andrej Kramaric and an own goal from Klaus Gajsula turned things in Vatreni’s favor. However, there was still time for drama as Gjasula equalized for Albania deep into stoppage time and received a late yellow card in a great Group B result.
Host Germany v Hungary and then Scotland v Switzerland are still to come this Wednesday. Here’s everything you need to know so far about day six in Germany.
Euro 2024 results for Monday
- Croatia 2, Albania 2
- Germany vs. Hungary at 12 p.m. ET
- Scotland vs. Switzerland at 3 p.m. ET
Croatia 2, Albania 2: Gjasula goes from villain to hero
Croatia has become synonymous over the years for its dramatic and occasionally fortunate ways of avoiding defeat in international tournaments. Vatreni regularly relies on extra time and penalties when on deep runs, such as in the 2018 FIFA World Cup final in Russia. Obviously, there are no games that go beyond the regulation 90 minutes plus extra time in the UEFA Euro 2024 group stage, but Zlatko Dalic’s men have found a way to play with fire anyway.
Qazim Laci was allowed to return home after just 11 minutes in Hamburg and, until the final quarter of an hour, it looked like that would be enough for Sylvinho’s side, who were unlucky enough to lose narrowly to Italy in their opening game. Cue Andrej Kramaric with a turnover and late equalizer in the 74th minute before a Klaus Gjasula own goal two minutes late for Croatia’s full international tournament experience condensed into a matter of 120 seconds or so. Unlike previous years, however, there was a late turnaround in Kuqezinjtë’s favor as Gjasula found himself ready to head home five minutes into added time, before receiving a characteristic yellow card.
The result means that Croatia will now have to progress with a draw between Italy and Spain on Thursday, possibly already putting second place beyond the reach of Dalic and Albania’s team. Only a victory over the Azzurri could see Croatia advance and even that could require being one of the best third-placed teams, while the winner between the Italians and La Roja could reach the round of 16 with one game to spare.
It appears to be a tournament too far for this golden generation of Croatian talent, with Luka Modric suddenly looking 38 years old and former stalwarts Ivan Perisic and Marcelo Brozovic also diminishing in strength. It seemed that their touch of dark magic had not completely deserted them, but Gjasula’s late goal seemed not only to deny Croatia victory but also to break their mental resolve at the end of another exciting game of football at this Euro.
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