Qatar 2022 World Cup: Hero of nation – Jay Jay Okocha hails Croatian player

Former Nigeria international Jay Jay Okocha has hailed Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic, describing him as the hero of the nation.

Croatia qualified for the next round of the 2022 World Cup on Monday beating Japan 3-1 on penalties in a round of sixteen.

Dain Maeda opened the scoring for the Samurai Blue in the first half but Ivan Perisic headed in to equalize for the 2018 World Cup runners-up in the 55th minute.

The 30 minutes of extra time could not provide any goal so penalties were used to determine who would go through to the quarterfinals.

Livakovic saved three spot kicks from Minamino, Mitoma and Yoshida, while Marko Livaja was the only Croatian player to miss his spot kick with his effort hitting the post.

Okocha praised Livakovic for his penalty-saving heroics while analysing the game on SuperSport.

“The consolation there is that they were on target.

“You have to give the goalkeeper the credit for guessing right and making the needful saves.

“Deservedly he’s the hero of his nation today.”