{"id":913935,"date":"2026-06-19T13:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T18:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/19\/petar-musa-stuns-england-with-clutch-world-cup-strike-mlssoccer-com\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T13:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T18:14:10","slug":"petar-musa-stuns-england-with-clutch-world-cup-strike-mlssoccer-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/19\/petar-musa-stuns-england-with-clutch-world-cup-strike-mlssoccer-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Petar Musa stuns England with clutch World Cup strike | MLSSoccer.com"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer <\/p>\n<div xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\">\n<p>  <main role=\"main\" id=\"main-content\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-label=\"Page main content\"><\/p>\n<div data-bucket-name=\"main-content-before-middle-adv\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/fc-dallas\/\">FC Dallas<\/a> fans watching Wednesday\u2019s high-profile England vs. Croatia match were treated to a familiar sight. Except this time, it came on the 2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/competitions\/fifa-world-cup\/\">FIFA World Cup<\/a> stage.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>On the stroke of halftime, with his side trailing 2-1, Dallas and Croatia striker <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/petar-musa\/\">Petar Musa<\/a> silenced the rowdy, pro-England crowd at Dallas Stadium. After being set up by an expertly flicked header from Ivan Peri\u0161i\u0107, Musa volleyed an equalizer past England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford that sent Croatia level at 2-2.<\/p>\n<p>However, England ultimately scored two second-half goals through Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford to secure a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/competitions\/fifa-world-cup\/2026\/matches\/engvscro-06-17-2026\/\">4-2 win<\/a> in Group L action.<\/p>\n<p>With a World Cup debut goal, Musa became the second MLS player to score at this summer\u2019s tournament after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/inter-miami-cf\/\">Inter Miami CF<\/a> superstar <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/lionel-messi\/\">Lionel Messi<\/a> netted a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/competitions\/fifa-world-cup\/news\/lionel-messi-ties-world-cup-goals-record-with-argentina-hat-trick\">historic hat trick<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<blockquote><p>\u2014 FOX Sports (@FOXSports) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/FOXSports\/status\/2067349862769692919?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 17, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><h3>Breakout star<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>In a Croatian team full of legendary names, Musa perhaps doesn\u2019t jump off the teamsheet. But Dallas&#8217; talisman has more than earned his place in head coach Zlatko Dali\u0107&#8217;s starting XI.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Returning to the national team fold in November 2025, Musa caught the eye of Croatia&#8217;s longtime manager. He featured in all but one match during the build-up to the FIFA World Cup, scoring his first international goal in a decisive qualifier.<\/p>\n<p>Musa&#8217;s second goal for Croatia will be far more memorable, as the World Cup debutant sent his side level with the Three Lions, a team widely considered to be among the tournament favorites.<\/p>\n<p>Musa is now up to two goals in 12 caps and looks set to play a crucial role as Croatia aim to replicate their 2018 and 2022 World Cup runs, in which they reached the final and semifinal, respectively.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<blockquote>\n<p lang=\"und\" dir=\"ltr\">Kakav Igra\u010d. <br \/>What a player. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ezIoPbWjA9\">pic.twitter.com\/ezIoPbWjA9<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 FC Dallasi\u0107 (@FCDallas) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/FCDallas\/status\/2067350670504571118?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 17, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><h3>From MLS to the big stage<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>Musa is enjoying a tremendous 2026 MLS campaign, tallying 12g\/2a at the World Cup break to sit third in the Golden Boot presented by Audi race.<\/p>\n<p>During his three seasons in MLS, Musa has scored at least 12 goals in every campaign, including a career-high 18 in 2025. He&#8217;s on pace to set a new personal best this season as he attempts to lead FC Dallas into the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs for the second consecutive year.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s all helped Musa reach the World Cup stage alongside <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/marco-pasalic\/\">Marco Pa\u0161ali\u0107<\/a>. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/orlando-city\/\">Orlando City<\/a> winger and 2025 MLS All-Star was a second-half substitute for Croatia vs. England.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Musa and Pa\u0161ali\u0107 return to action on Tuesday vs. Panama, hoping to earn their first points in Group L (7 pm ET | FOX, Telemundo, Peacock).<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div data-toggle data-layout-name=\"grid_4-4-4\" data-bucket-name=\"main-content-after-middle-adv\">\n<div>\n<p>Get the latest from MLS: league news, must-see matches, kit drops, premium offers for the World\u2019s biggest event, and more!<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>  <\/main><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/competitions\/fifa-world-cup\/news\/petar-musa-stuns-england-with-clutch-goal-croatia-fc-dallas\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a>Anthony Serna<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer FC Dallas fans watching Wednesday\u2019s high-profile England vs. Croatia match were treated to a familiar sight. Except this time, it came on the 2026 FIFA World Cup stage. On the stroke of halftime, with his side trailing 2-1, Dallas and Croatia striker Petar Musa silenced the rowdy, pro-England crowd at Dallas Stadium. After being [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":913936,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[92919,2005,2856],"tags":[132176,7976],"class_list":["post-913935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-petar","category-soccer","category-stuns","tag-petar","tag-stuns"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=913935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/913936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=913935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=913935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=913935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}