A 72nd minute late strike by Mandzukic forced Italy to settle for a 1-1 draw in their group C encounter against Croatia on Thursday.
Italy broke the deadlock in the 39th minute when Juventus midfielder Andrea Pirlo came up with a brilliant free kick, from just outside the goal box. Pirlo whipped the ball over the wall into the top left corner, beating the Croatian keeper.
Italy was quite clear with their intentions as they looked to attack from the very beginning of the match.
Mario Balotelli almost netted the opener in the 3rd minute, but his shot from the edge of box went just wide of the post, and the Croatian fans heaved a sigh of relief.
Towards the end of the first half, Balotelli had numerous chances which he failed to execute. And though Italy launched a series of attacks, but they were not particularly fluent in it.
The Croatian defence seemed quite susceptible as they gave away numerous chances to the Italian forwards attack. With this stretch in their defense, a goal seemed almost certain for Italy.
But it was just 6 minutes before half time, when Cesare Prandelli's side enjoyed their first success.
Croatian coach Bilic seemed quite frustrated with the team's first half performance, but the half time break seemed to have worked wonders for him.
Croatia looked quite composite in the later half as they started to pressurize the Italian defense. The world number 12, Italy desperately looked to increase their lead to a safer position, but it was ultimately Croatia who were rewarded for their effort with an equalizer.
It was Mario Mandzukic for the Croatian side, who scored his third goal of the tournament by smashing the ball in off the post from close range after controlling Ivan Strinic's deep cross.
This increased pressure on the Italian side folds as they haven't yet won a single match in the tournament. They desperately looked for a goal towards the final stretch of the half, but it was too late for them as the match ended 1-1.
Croatia now sits on the second position of the group table, having won 1 game of the two played, while Italy with two draws is placed third.
On being asked if he was angry on his team, Italian coach Prandelli said, "No I'm not angry. Of course we are a bit annoyed because a side that plays football and creates chances needs to kill off the game. Football is rather unique in that way, because just one cross can ruin everything you have built up over the course of a game, so we have a lot of regrets."
But the Croatian counterpart seemed quite content with the draw as he said, "It is not easy when you are up against a big team, but we were waiting for our chance."
Italy broke the deadlock in the 39th minute when Juventus midfielder Andrea Pirlo came up with a brilliant free kick, from just outside the goal box. Pirlo whipped the ball over the wall into the top left corner, beating the Croatian keeper.
Italy was quite clear with their intentions as they looked to attack from the very beginning of the match.
Mario Balotelli almost netted the opener in the 3rd minute, but his shot from the edge of box went just wide of the post, and the Croatian fans heaved a sigh of relief.
Towards the end of the first half, Balotelli had numerous chances which he failed to execute. And though Italy launched a series of attacks, but they were not particularly fluent in it.
The Croatian defence seemed quite susceptible as they gave away numerous chances to the Italian forwards attack. With this stretch in their defense, a goal seemed almost certain for Italy.
But it was just 6 minutes before half time, when Cesare Prandelli's side enjoyed their first success.
Croatian coach Bilic seemed quite frustrated with the team's first half performance, but the half time break seemed to have worked wonders for him.
Croatia looked quite composite in the later half as they started to pressurize the Italian defense. The world number 12, Italy desperately looked to increase their lead to a safer position, but it was ultimately Croatia who were rewarded for their effort with an equalizer.
It was Mario Mandzukic for the Croatian side, who scored his third goal of the tournament by smashing the ball in off the post from close range after controlling Ivan Strinic's deep cross.
This increased pressure on the Italian side folds as they haven't yet won a single match in the tournament. They desperately looked for a goal towards the final stretch of the half, but it was too late for them as the match ended 1-1.
Croatia now sits on the second position of the group table, having won 1 game of the two played, while Italy with two draws is placed third.
On being asked if he was angry on his team, Italian coach Prandelli said, "No I'm not angry. Of course we are a bit annoyed because a side that plays football and creates chances needs to kill off the game. Football is rather unique in that way, because just one cross can ruin everything you have built up over the course of a game, so we have a lot of regrets."
But the Croatian counterpart seemed quite content with the draw as he said, "It is not easy when you are up against a big team, but we were waiting for our chance."
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