Mateo Kovacic put on a passing clinic at the Khalifa International Stadium on Sunday in Qatar as Croatia got their first World Cup win in Group F as they beat Canada 4-1.
Canada took a shock lead within 90 seconds through a thunderous Alphonso Davies header to net the fastest goal in the World Cup so far. But the highly experienced Croatia lineup soon asserted their control and quality as the ball, leading before half-time thanks to goals through Andrej Kramaric and Marko Livaja.
Kramaric added the third after the interval to settle the game and send Canada out of the tournament with one game to spare.
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One of Croatia's instrumental figures was Kovacic who danced his way through challenges with his trademark dribbling, intercepted potentially dangerous Canadian attacks when necessary and threaded cultured passes to create good openings.
Alongside the outstanding metronome Luka Modric and Marcelo Brozovic, the Chelsea midfielder shirked off his recent fitness woes to showcase his finest form.
A dominant first half caught the eye, having a 100 per cent pass accuracy, winning all of his duels, and tackles, and making two chances as well in a productive half. The only negative of the night coming not long before he was replaced by Lovro Majer, who went onto the score the fourth in added time, he spurned a chance to net a rare goal of his own, opting to square to Ivan Perisic as the chance went.
But this was Kovacic as his aesthetic best, also offering the vision needed to make a telling difference when his nation demanded a big performance.
The 28-year-old has struggled to find such impressive form at Chelsea this season, suffering with a knee issue since the summer that has disrupted his availability. Graham Potter will be pleased to see one of his senior midfielders finding some confidence in Qatar before club football returns after Christmas.
Croatia's dominant win puts them on top of Group F with Morocco heading into their final game with Belgium, where all three of the aforementioned nations could still qualify for the knockout stages. Kovacic matched his Chelsea peer Hakim Ziyech, who won and impressed in Morocco's huge win over Belgium 2-0.
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