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Last-Gasp Navas Goal Sends Spain Through, Croatia Out

18 June 2012 22:43 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A nervous Spain left it late to beat Croatia with a Jesus Navas strike for a 1-0 win that books their place in the quarterfinals as Group C winners and knocks out Croatia, APA reports quoting Ria Novosti.

Despite Italy beating Ireland 2-0 in Mondayâ€™s other game, Spain and Croatia resisted the temptation to play out a 2-2 draw that would have sent both teams through, and a cagey game was the result.

With two minutes remaining of normal time, Spainâ€™s breakthrough came.

A perfectly-weighted lobbed pass from Cesc Fabregas left the Croatian offside trap in ruins, leaving Andres Iniesta and Jesus Navas behind the defense.

As Croatian goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa charged forward, Iniesta coolly played the ball square to Navas for a simple finish into the empty net.

On Tuesday, England play Ukraine, while France face Sweden.