Although Croatia were not convincing in Friday’s 1-0 victory over the Faroe Islands, they were expected to beat a Montenegro side that had lost three of their last four WCQ away games to-nil by 2+ goal margins.
However, the reality was quite different at first, as Montenegro initially held firm despite the early loss of Igor Vujacic to injury, and a Franjo Ivanovic header saved brilliantly by Danijel Petkovic was as close as Croatia came to going ahead before the half-hour mark.
The opener wasn’t long delayed though, as Luka Modric once again defied his years in the 35th minute, when his aerial ball out to the right flank was picked up by Kristijan Jakic. Showing footwork that Cristiano Ronaldo would applaud, the Augsburg man jinked his way past two players before curling an exquisite shot past Petkovic and into the far corner, duly registering his first international goal.
Montenegro then completed a classic double whammy shortly after, with the dismissal of Andrija Bulatovic for a second bookable foul on Modric setting them up for a backs-to-the-wall job after half-time.
However, the proverbial ‘wall’ disintegrated just six minutes after the restart, and it was a Bundesliga combo that doubled Croatia’s lead, with Bayern Munich’s Josip Stanisic laying the ball on a plate for Hoffenheim talisman Andrej Kramaric to tap the ball inand extend his 100% strike rate across the current WCQ cycle with a sixth goal in four.
That looked to have killed off Montenegro for good, but Croatia continued to press and harry relentlessly, with Modric coming close to turning goalscorer when he saw a shot from the edge of the box flash wide of the left post.
Petkovic then thwarted an Ante Budimir shot on the rebound at close range, but a third would eventually come via an Edvin Kuc own goal, as he turned in an attempt from Lovro Majer.
Group L’s new leaders completed the rout with virtually the final kick, as Ivan Perisic latched onto a brilliant Majer pass and fired first time into the bottom-right corner.
With a game in hand on the second-placed Czech Republic, it seems only a question of when Croatia will confirm their place at the World Cup for the seventh time in eight attempts as an independent nation.
Montenegro, on the other hand, look set for more frustration since splitting from Serbia in 2006, with six points now separating them from the Czechs.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Kristijan Jakic (Croatia)
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