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Ante Budimir‘s second international goal was enough for Croatia to book their place at the Euro 2024 finals in Germany following a 1-0 victory over Armenia in Zagreb on Tuesday, enough for a top two finish in qualification Group D.
Croatia camped in the Armenia half without creating clear-cut chances until Budimir’s headed goal two minutes before halftime. Borna Sosa‘s cross from the left was perfect for the forward to get ahead of his marker and score from six yards out.
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Luka Modric was superb for the home side as he belied his 38 years and pulled the strings in midfield, allowing them to control the tempo in the second half and create several other scoring chances that were spurned.
Turkey topped the pool with 17 points from their eight games, one more than Croatia. Wales had to settle for a place in the playoffs, while Armenia’s dream had been extinguished before their final game.
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It is a sixth successive qualification for the continental finals for Croatia, and their seventh overall, having finished second and third at the last two World Cups, but never gone beyond the quarter-finals at the Euros.
It was a nervous night in Zagreb in front of 15,000 noisy home fans, as Armenia defended manfully and created a few good chances of their own.
The visitors had the clearest sight of goal in the opening half-hour when Kamo Hovhannisyan burst clear and with only home goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic to beat, saw his shot saved.
Croatia had to be patient but when Budimir headed them in front just before the break, it eased the tension and was just reward for their ambition.
A magnificent pass from Modric launched a swift counter-attack in the second half and Budimir looked odds-on to score again from Mario Pasalic‘s chip to the back post, but defender Nair Tiknizyan cleared the ball in the nick of time.
Modric was running the show and his inviting cross was almost turned into his own net by Andre Calisir, but Armenia goalkeeper Ognjen Cancarevic did superbly to claw the ball off his line.