Argentina defeated Netherlands in the penalty shootout to secure a 6th semifinal appearance at the FIFA World Cup.
Croatia are looking for consecutive World Cup final appearances after defeating Brazil in the quarterfinals.
The teams are meeting for a third time in the competition having won a game each in their previous duels.
Argentina defeated Netherlands in the penalty shootout to reach the FIFA World Cup semi finals for a sixth time. They have never lost a game at this stage and will be hoping to make it to the finals and lift the trophy for the first time since 1986.
After the surprise exit of Brazil, Argentina remain as the hot favorites in this edition of the tournament. However, everything’s not alright with this Argentina team having invited trouble for a second time in the knockouts.
Australia came closer to spoil Messi’s night in the closing stages of the round of 16 when they were leading 2-0. But Netherlands with more quality in the attacking third made them pay from the same situation and stretch the game to extra time and then to uncertainty of penalty shootout. Thanks to the saves from Emiliano Martinez and excellent kicks from the spot to keep them in the competition.
Croatia just proved the whole world wrong by knocking the tournament favorites Brazil out from the competition.
The Selecao may be at fault for this as they pushed players forward in the final minutes of the extra time and left the defense open to give the Croatians that one chance to score the equalizer.
Dominik Livakovic was once again the star of the penalty shoot out by saving the first kick from Real Madrid youngster Rodrigo.
Penalty shootouts are a familiar territory for the Croats since they defeated Denmark, Russia and England in the 2018 edition. The only difference is Dominik Livakovic came in and replaced the veteran Danijel Subasic to do the hard work between the posts.




译文(自动翻译仅供参考):

阿根廷队在点球大战中击败荷兰队，第六次进入世界杯半决赛。
克罗地亚队在四分之一决赛中击败巴西后，正寻求连续进入世界杯决赛。
这是两支球队在比赛中第三次相遇，他们在之前的比赛中各赢一场。
阿根廷队在点球大战中击败荷兰队，第六次进入世界杯半决赛。他们在这一阶段从未输过一场比赛，希望能进入决赛，并自1986年以来首次举起奖杯。
在巴西意外出局后，阿根廷仍是本届世界杯的夺冠热门。然而，这支阿根廷队在淘汰赛中第二次招来麻烦，一切都不太好。
在16强赛最后阶段，澳大利亚队以2-0领先，差点毁了梅西的美好夜晚。但荷兰队在进攻端的表现更出色，让他们在同样的情况下付出了代价，将比赛延长到加时赛，然后进入点球大战的不确定性。多亏了埃米利亚诺·马丁内斯的扑救和精彩的点球，他们得以留在比赛中。
克罗地亚队刚刚把夺冠热门巴西队淘汰出局，证明了全世界都错了。
桑巴军团可能对此负有责任，他们在加时赛的最后几分钟将球员推到前场，让对方的防守空挡，给克罗地亚人一个扳平比分的机会。
多米尼克·利瓦科维奇再次成为点球大战的明星，他扑出了皇马小将罗德里戈的第一个点球。
对于克罗地亚人来说，点球大战是他们熟悉的领域，因为他们在2018年的世界杯上击败了丹麦、俄罗斯和英格兰。唯一不同的是多米尼克·利瓦科维奇顶替了老将丹尼尔·苏巴基，他在门柱之间做了艰苦的工作。