5 quick thoughts on Ivan Perisic’s beautiful goal in the World Cup final

Ivan Perisic scored a gorgeous left-footed goal to briefly tie the World Cup final against France on Sunday. The finish was class, but the build-up to the play was what really set it apart.

I’ve got five quick thoughts on the goal, though first, let’s watch it:

1. This is a lovely set-piece play

It didn’t work, exactly. Well it did work. It just didn’t work how Croatia wanted it to work.

Croatia first fakes an early kick and sends its players into an offside position. Usually when this happens, teams have to reset and all get back onside, so defenses tend to chill out. Crotia didn’t reset, however. Luka Modric took it quickly, playing it to an on-running Croatia player who is onside.

He couldn’t quite get to it. And France handled it well. But it’s still a great play design.

2. Mandzukic and Brozovic do an incredible job keeping it alive

This play was handled. It didn’t really work. But the ball did get lumped into the box high, and after that, Mandzukic and Brozovic do an incredible job fighting to win two headballs and keeping the play alive in the box. Again, this was a broken play. It didn’t work. But their effort on the play makes it possible for what happens next.

3. Vida’s pass here is so good

What happens next is Vida, a center back, gets the ball in traffic with pressure on and manages to corral the thing and get a clean-ish pass to Ivan Perisic at the top of the box. A bouncing ball under pressure is an easy time to lose your head, or try to turn and do something dumb like force a shot. Vida gets the ball to his teammate incredibly well.

4. Perisic’s first touch should have poems written about it

Perisic not only handles a bouncing ball under pressure. He not only takes a good first touch into space. He does all that while taking his first touch past N’Golo Kante, just the best defensive midfielder alive. That’s insane.

The degree of difficulty is off the charts. The speed with which the game is going, the pressure you’re under, the best defensive midfielder alive running at you at full speed, and you take that perfect a first touch, into space, just hard enough to clear the defender and put the ball on your left foot to score ... that’s impossible. That’s amazing.

5. The hit is pure

From there, it’s just a cannon of a left foot, a slight deflection off Rafael Varane, and the celebration. This play had hustle, and tenacity, and physicality, and then breathtaking skill ... all things we’ve come to expect from Croatia this World Cup. What a goal.