National Team Friendly

National stadium
Spectators: 10300 (Terracing: 7725, Seating: 2369, VIP seats: 206) It was fairly windy and cold on the field when Nikola Vlašić kicked off to start the match. After some careless play in the Croatia defense, Dušan Vlahovic kicked a shot that curved into the net to the right of Emil Cvitanović. The Croatia fans voiced their displeasure as they felt that Emil Cvitanović should have stopped the shot. Croatia's Vedran Ćesić managed, thanks to a brazen rush, stole the ball on a throw-in made by Rastko Santrač in the 10 minute of the game. When the match clock showed 13 minutes, the score became 0-2 when Dušan Vlahovic sped through Croatia's defense and sent away a curving shot that went into the net to the right of Emil Cvitanović. Emil Cvitanović showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Kostadin Martinović in the 15th minute of the match. 18 minutes into the game, Serbia's Dušan Vlahovic nearly tore a hole in the net with a booming shot. Emil Cvitanović made a valiant effort, but he could not reach the ball in time, 0-3. Emil Cvitanović showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Voja Spajić, who was totally free with the ball in the 21st minute. 23 minutes into the match, Serbia's goalkeeper Jeremije Mirković had to clear away a ball on his right side after a cunning shot by Luka Mata. Jugoslav Đurđević lost his temper 23 minutes into the game and shoved another player to the ground. He was immediately shown a red card. 22 minutes into the game, one of Serbia:s players got tackled near the goal, and the referee blew for a penalty. In the 26th minute, Dušan Vlahovic ran past the defenders and hit a shot which went straight ahead into goal. Emil Cvitanović was frozen by the shot and now it was 0-4. Jeremije Mirković stood for a superb save when he managed to get hold of Nikola Vlašić's shot from short distance in the 29th minute. Croatia's Nikola Vlašić got a good chance for a goal in the 29th minute, but he totally mistimed the shot and it went over the crossbar. 31 minutes into the match, Croatia's goal looked a bit too open when Voja Spajić came free, but Emil Cvitanović reached the ball before it rolled over the goal line. In the 32nd minute of the match, Nikola Vlašić got a very nice opportunity to score, but Jeremije Mirković was well-placed and pushed the ball away from the goal at the left post. A nice corner shot did that Luka Mata got away a dangerous shot. Despite this Jeremije Mirković quite easily got ahold of the ball to make the save. Mauro Kotlar hit a great freekick 36 minutes into the match. A throw-in in the 42nd minute of the game was made by Slobodan Bokovac with Kostadin Martinović as target, who quickly passed the ball forward. With a couple of smart ball manuevers Dušan Vlahovic in the 44th managed to get into a good position. With a left leg Emil Cvitanović saved Croatia from getting behind. The crowd was extremely unhappy with the home team's performance in the first half. They were losing 0-4.

Both teams looked relatively alert before the second half when the referee blew his whistle to tell Dušan Vlahovic to make the kick off. 52 minutes into the match, Joško Poklepović notched a goal, 1-4, to the right of Serbia's Jeremije Mirković. Jeremije Mirković was clearly disgusted with the effort of the defense and let the defenders know about it. With a little luck, Croatia's Emil Cvitanović got control of the ball when Dušan Vlahovic tried to sneak it across the goal line. Croatia's Nikola Haramina was substituted for Miran Tudor. Harry Maguire made in the 65th minute of the game a quick throw-in and Toni Gojak immediately put the ball in play. If Rastko Santrač had kept his shot down it would have been a goal in the 67th minute. The ball went over the crossbar and out instead. Luka Mata sent away a hard shot on goal in the 74th minute, but the ball hit the crossbar and went out. A very good chance for a goal. The audience was convinced that Joško Poklepović's extremely hard shot when he got free in front of the goal was going in, but Jeremije Mirković was relentless in the 74th minute of the game. After 88 played minutes Serbia got a freekick which was hit by Dragojlo Bogosavljević. Dragojlo Bogosavljević hit a great freekick 88 minutes into the match. Stanimir Nestorovski sent away a hard shot on goal in the 92nd minute, but the ball went just over the crossbar and out. A very good chance. Croatia's Emil Cvitanović played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Stanimir Nestorovski in the 96th minute of play. The Croatia fans had already started to leave before the final whistle blew. Serbia were clearly better and deserved to take the win.