What you didn’t see on TV! England players took quick restart after Mario Mandzukic’s goal as Croatia players celebrated… but ref stopped it as confusion reigned during semi-final
England’s World Cup dream came to an end on Wednesday night but Gareth Southgate’s side tried everything possible to peg back Croatia.
Mario Mandzukic broke the Three Lions’ hearts with his extra-time strike seeing Croatia prevail 2-1 in the semi-final.
However, as he and his team-mates celebrated his goal wildly – England sought a quick tactic to score one of their own.
England players tried to catch Croatia off guard during Wednesday’s semi-final in Moscow
After conceding Mario Mandzukic’s strike in extra time, England tried to take a quick restart
Mandzukic and his Croatia team-mates (circled) were off the pitch celebrating at the time
England tried to use their initiative as Croatia celebrated off the pitch but the ref stopped it
The incident wasn’t shown on TV but a fan caught the moment inside the Luzhniki Stadium
It wasn’t shown on TV but one fan inside the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow caught England trying to take a quick restart with most of Croatia’s players off the pitch still celebrating.
Footage from Vlasta Jesenicnik (@VJesenicnik) shows England tried to use their initiative by storming forward after taking the restart before pulled back by Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir.
After previous attempts at this World Cup by other teams there had been a suggestion hat one player must be on the field of play or a quick kick-off could be taken to catch the celebrating team out.
However, that notion is false with play only being able to start at the referee’s discretion.
And in this case Cakir had not given a signal for kick-off to be taken.
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