Croatia beat Brazil in a penalty shootout on Friday night to advance to the World Cup semi-final for a second successive tournament.
The 2018 runners-up showed immense resilience to come from behind in extra-time and then hold their nerve in the dramatic denouement to oust the pre-competition favourites who missed two of their spot kicks.
Croatia will play Argentina who also needed a penalty shootout at the Al Thumama Stadium to see off the Netherlands who scored two late goals to gain parity at 2-2 and push the tie into extra-time.
Inthe subsequent shootout, the Netherlands missed their first two penalties and Argentina claimed the endgame 4-3.
Earlier at the Education City Stadium, Neymar put Brazil ahead with a slick finish at the end of the first period of extra-time following a goalless 90 minutes.
The Paris Saint-Germain striker exchanged passes with Rodrygo and Pedro, then surged into the penalty area, went round the Croatian goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic and smashed the ball into the roof of the net.
The setback left Croatia with no option after Brazil's famed attack had done its job.
The question over the final 15 minutes was whether the Brazil defence could be breached and whether the strikers could pounce again as Croatia sprang forward.
Brazil appeared to be caught in a no man's land. When the counterattack appeared available, play was slowed down. And they were undone in one launch forward three minutes from the semi-final.
Josko Gvardiol managed to dispossess Fred as he tried to go clear down the right and fed Luka Modric who quickly released Mislav Orsic. The substitute careered down the left and cut back to fellow substitute Bruno Petkovic whose first time shot took a deflection off Marquinhos and flew past Brazil goalkeeper Alisson. It was Croatia's first shot on target.
Errors
Worse was to befall Marquinhos about 15 minutes later. After Livakovic had saved Rodrygo's limp first penalty for Brazil, the PSG skipper needed to convert his attempt to force Croatia to kick for glory.
After his effort hit the left hand post and came out, he fell to his knees on the penalty spot in despair as the Croatia squad flocked inches past him towards their keeper.
Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic dedicated the victory to the Croatian people. "It was a great match from the first minute to the last," he said. "We eliminated the biggest favourites. This is not the end for us, let's keep going.
"This is a victory for all of us, everyone gave their best. Thanks also to those on the substitutes' bench, who also live for this national team."
Precision
The Brazilians will only have themselves to blame for poor marksmanship in promising positions.
They failed to break down Croatia's gritty defenders and found themseves chasing triangles once Modric, Mateo Kovacic and Marcelo Brozovic got hold of the ball.
Despite the rigours of a penalty shootout win over Japan, Croatia stuck to the gameplan of conserving the ball. But they also benefited from lacklustre shooting.
A Neymar free-kick just before half-time was easily picked up by Livakovic who also got down well to fend off Neymar's close-range effort 10 minutes into the second-half.
Lucas Paqueta should have done better mid way through the second- half with clear sight of goal.
Neymar's goal drew him level with Pelé's record for Brazil of 77. And at 30-years-old he looks set to surpass that exploit.
But Pele's feat of three World Cup medals appears to be the stuff of dreams for future Brazilian strikers.
