Croatia took an early punch on Sunday against Canada, and it countered with two of its own in the first half.
The 2018 World Cup runner-up trailed almost instantly on Sunday. Canada’s Alphonso Davies scored the quickest goal of this year’s World Cup so far with a header one minute and seven seconds into the contest.
Despite trailing so early, Croatia still took a lead into halftime.
Andrej Kramarić brought Croatia level with a goal in the 36th minute. The veteran dribbled the ball into the box and beat Canadian goalie Milan Borjan with a left-footed shot to the far post.
Marko Livaja put the Vatreni up 2-1 shortly after, rolling a shot past Borjan from the top of the box in the 44th minute.
Kramarić is up to two goals in his World Cup career. His first one came in the 2018 quarterfinals against host nation Russia as Croatia went on to reach the tournament final. Livaja, meanwhile, got his first career World Cup goal in his second game.
Croatia can join Morocco on top of the Group F table with four points if it wins on Sunday. Canada, on the other hand, is in danger of becoming the second team to be eliminated from knockout contention.