NIZHNY NOVGOROD, Russia, June 21 -- Croatia beat Argentina here at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium 3-0 on Thursday evening, a victory that lifted them to the knockout stage, whereas the Albiceleste are on the brink of being eliminated.

Ante Rebic first scored thanks to terrible mistake of Argentine Wilfredo Caballero. The Chelsea goalkeeper, attempting to pass the ball to a defender, teed it up to Rebic, before the latter sending it into the top right.

Luka Modric further extended the lead on the 80th minute when the Real Madrid forward evaded Argentina's Nicolas Otamendi before firing into the bottom corner from 25 meters out.

Ivan Rakitic added one more goal at injury time. After his shot was saved by Caballero, his teammate Mateo Kovacic rolled him back the rebound, with the Barcelona footballer whipping the ball into the bottom left of an empty net.

With the victory, Croatia are able to continue their legend of not losing their World Cup second group games.

Argentina had been close to equalizing 10 minutes later, when Maximiliano Meza received a cutback, but his shot was saved by Danijel Subasic.

It is a very important match for both teams, with Argentina under pressure after an unexpected 1-1 draw with Iceland in the opening game, and Croatia, who hoped to win back-to-back World Cup games for the first time since their debut in 1998, looked to seal qualification for the round of 16.

The fruitless first half started with Argentina having the majority of possession, at 67 percent in the first 17 minutes.

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