Canada, however, earned no points from their first two matches and can’t advance even if they beat Morocco on Friday in their final match. Croatia and Belgium will play at the same time.
Davies, who plays for Bayern Munich, headed a cross from Tajon Buchanan just out of goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic’s reach 1 minute, 8 seconds into the match. The goal had the swath of red-shirted Canadian fans chanting “Can-a-da! Can-a-da!” at Khalifa International Stadium.
“I am disappointed in the result. It was not easy,” said Davies, who had a penalty saved in the opening loss to Belgium. “We did our best, we fought the entire game. We’re looking forward to the next game and hopefully we get some points.”
Kramaric appeared to score another for Croatia in the 26th minute but he was ruled offside. His second chance counted about 10 minutes later, making it 1-1.
Livaja put Croatia in front with a blast from outside the penalty box in the 44th minute, Kramaric added his second in the 70th and Majer scored in stoppage time.
Canada opened the tournament with a 1-0 loss to Belgium. Afterward, coach John Herdman stirred a bit of controversy when he recounted his post-game message to his players, using the first letter of a profanity to describe how they would beat Croatia.
In response, Croatia’s coach hit back at his English counterpart the day before the match.
“This way of putting words together is not a sign of respect,” Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic said. “The way we play, the way we behave and the way we respect all others are the reasons we are worthy of respect.”
Canada was also eliminated in the group stage of the team’s only other World Cup appearance in 1986.
