Croatia went top of Group D following a comfortable 2-0 victory over Nigeria whose inability to conjure clear cut chances let them down.
Iceland's surprising 1-1 draw with Argentina raised the stakes of Croatia's tie with Nigeria as the winner of the late kickoff would go on to top the group thus taking a large step towards qualification for the knockout round.
The game began as a cagey affair with both sides looking to work their way up the pitch. For the most part of the first half, Nigeria were forced to play long balls up top to Odion Ighalo with Alex Iwobi and Victor Moses often feeding off of Ighalo's knockdowns.
The Super Eagles found it difficult to create goalscoring opportunities, but Croatia's star-studded midfield did a great job of creating chances for the forwards as they pressed high when Nigeria held the ball in their own half, forcing them to resort to long balls which gave rise to a couple of counter attacks for Croatia.
The game's opener came somewhat unexpectedly, though, as Nigerian midfielder Oghenekaro Etebo tapped the ball into the back of his own net in the 32-minute after a diving header from Mario Mandzukic sent the ball into his path.
The remainder of the first-half remained somewhat balanced but Croatia looked to be more positive going forward with Andrej Kramaric finding space down the flanks.
Nigeria began the second-half quite nicely but Croatia soon began to mount attacks on the Super Eagles' defence.
Ahmed Musa came on for Alex Iwobi in the 62-minute with Gernot Rohr looking to inject some pace into Nigeria's attack, but the speedster failed to make an impact as Nigeria still found chances hard to come by.
William Troost-Ekong gave away a penalty in the 70-minute after pulling Mario Mandzukic's shirt in the 18-yard-area. Real Madrid star Luka Modric stepped up to take the pen and sent the Nigerian goalkeeper the wrong way thus increasing his side's lead to 2-0.
The remainder of the game saw Nigeria push forward more in an attempt to find the back of the net, but even after bringing in Kelechi Ihenacho, Croatia's defence was too strong for the Super Eagles to break down.
