FIFA World Cup: When A Croatian Player Received Three Yellow Cards in a Match Courtesy of Referee's Error

The 2022 FIFA World Cup is around the corner and the biggest football carnival has once again started grabbing people’s attention. The football World Cup is widely followed by fans across the globe. We have witnessed some great moments in this tournament over the years, however, there were also some bizarre moments which made the World Cup grab the attention of many.

One of the incidents happened during the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany when Croatia’s defender Josip Simunic received three yellow cards in a match courtsey of referee Graham Poll. It was during the group stage in the German World Cup when Croatia faced Australia.

The referee mistook Simunic for an Aussie player while marking down his second yellow card. The Croatian defender received a third yellow card later in the game and was sent off. The former football referee admitted his mistake and was quite embarrassed as he decided to step down.

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The match ended in a 2-2 draw as Australia scored a late goal to get the equaliser. Meanwhile, Croatia failed to get out of the group stage during that tournament, while Australia were qualified for the round of 16.

However, this time Croatia will be entering the World Cup as a superior team to Australia who are placed France, Denmark and Tunisia in Group D.

The runners-up of last time will enter the tournament once again as the big underdogs in the tournament led by a Ballon d’Or winner Luka Modric. This time Croatia will be without Ivan Rakitic and Mario Mandzukic who have retired their announcement from international football. Ivan Perisic and Mateo Kovacic will be the other players alongside Modric who will play a crucial role if Croatia have to make a long journey in the tournament.

They will be the favourites alongside Belgium to qualify from Group F but their primary target will be to get the better of De Bruyne and Co. Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic has to form unity in the squad to replicate the success of Russia.

In the friendly match ahead of the tournament, they beat Saudi Arabia 1-0. The Croatians, who lost 4-2 to France in the final four years ago in Russia, begin their latest World Cup bid against Morocco in Al Khor on November 23.