Croatia Struggles with Penalty Goals in World Cup

Croatia's struggles with conceding penalty goals in World Cup tournaments continued as Cristiano Ronaldo equalized for Portugal from the spot in the 67th minute during their Round of 32 match in the 2026 World Cup.

Ivan Perišić had opened the scoring for Croatia in the 53rd minute before Ronaldo leveled the match, and then Gonçalo Ramos gave Portugal the lead with a last-gasp goal in the third minute of stoppage time.

According to a statistic released by Opta, Ronaldo's penalty increased the number of goals Croatia has conceded from penalties in World Cup history to 8 since the 1998 edition, the highest among all teams during that period.

France follows in second place with 7 penalty goals conceded, Argentina with 6, and the Netherlands with 5, while Tunisia, Brazil, and South Korea have each conceded 4 penalty goals.

The Portuguese national team is close to securing a spot in the Round of 16 after turning a deficit into a 2-1 victory as the final whistle approaches.