ZAGREB, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Croatian national football team made a big step toward the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, beating Greece 4-1 in the first leg of the European playoffs played on Thursday night in front of over 30,000 fans at the Maksimir stadium in Zagreb.

The strong Greek defense, that had been singled out as the main quality of the visiting team before the match, fell apart after just 30 minutes of play. Croatian pressure was too hard for the Greeks to sustain and forced them into mistakes. In the 13th minute, Greek goalkeeper Orestis Karnezis made a mistake receiving the ball and fouled Nikola Kalinic in the penalty area. Croatian captain Luka Modric scored his first goal in this qualifying campaign as his shot from the penalty spot found the net, sending the Greek keeper the wrong way.

Croatia need just six more minutes to score for the second time. Ivan Strinic broke on the left and returned the ball into the middle where Inter Milan striker Nikola Kalinic was faster than Greek defenders and put the ball into the net with a clever heel shot.

In the 30th minute, Greek captain Papastathopoulos beat Croatian defenders in the air and his header was out of reach for home goalkeeper Daniel Subasic.

But the Greek celebration didn't last for long. Just three minutes later, Croatia again reached a two goal advantage. This time, the deadly cross came from the right side off the foot of Sime Vrsaljko. Ivan Perisic met the ball on the far post and easily put the header into the net from close range. The Inter Milan forward scored his first goal in over a year for the national team, and he could harldy have chosen a better time for it.

Another mistake that the Greek defense made under pressure came from a Croatian team effort that led to the fourth goal from the home team. In the 49th minute, Sime Vrsaljko sneaked behind the back of Kostas Stafylidis and beat the Greek goalkeeper to the ball, flicked it to Andrej Kramaric and the Hoffenheim striker scored his third goal in the last two matches since Zlatko Dalic took over as an interim national head coach.

"It was a great display from our side but this is just the first half. We don't need euphoria. We will travel to Greece and prepare like the result in Zagreb was 0-0," Croatian head coach Zlatko Dalic said.

Real Madrid star Luka Modric was master of the show.

"The whole team played great. It was a great display but we just did the first half of the job. We will need to play just as good in Greece as we did tonight. It would be a tragedy to let this chance go," Modric said after the match.

Greece will host the Croatians at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus on Sunday.

The 2023 Rugby World Cup is set to be held in South Africa after the Board of the sport's governing body recommended the country's bid ahead of Ireland and France on Tuesday but both losing nations vowed to fight on.

World Rugby's Council could still opt for any of the three bids when it votes on November 15 but is expected to rubber-stamp the recommendation and some unions, including New Zealand, have indicated that they will follow the Board's choice.

Japan will host the next tournament in 2019, the first in Asia.

Ireland's joint Republic and Northern Irish bid had been the bookmakers' favorite having never been the main host before while France was the outsider having staged the tournament in 2007.

Both, however, were outscored in the evaluation report where South Africa received an overall score of 78.97 percent to 75.88 for France and 72.25 for Ireland on a selection of weighted criteria.

South Africa hosted the 1995 World Cup against an extraordinary emotional, social and political backdrop after the country had missed the first two tournaments due to the sporting ban over apartheid.

The sight of Nelson Mandela in a Springbok shirt presenting the Webb Ellis Cup to Francois Pienaar as South Africa triumphed on home soil is probably the most iconic image in the tournament's history.

But though unashamedly using that tournament to strengthen its bid, South Africa scored well across much more prosaic issues such as transport, technology and match venues, with the availability of stadiums built for the 2010 soccer World Cup a major plus.

"We told the World Rugby Council that we would deliver a triple win tournament — a win for the game with record receipts; a win for the fans with an unforgettable tournament in a bucket-list destination and, most importantly, a win for the players with the most athlete-centric event in the tournament’s history," SA Rugby CEO Jurie Roux said.

Greater transparency

World Rugby and Rugby World Cup Limited Chairman Bill Beca statement: "This is the first Rugby World Cup host selection to take place following a complete redesign of the bidding process to promote greater transparency and maximize World Rugby's hosting objectives.

"The comprehensive and independently scrutinized evaluation reaffirmed that we have three exceptional bids but it also identified South Africa as a clear leader."

The Irish finished last in all but one of the five main criteria and lost out badly on transport and information technology.

Amid the 220-page report, the following criticism of the Irish bid's technology plans stood out.

"The amount of upgrade work required introduces complexity and therefore a significant risk factor that is not inherent in the other two bids," it said.

They have not given up yet, however.

"While it is disappointing not to have received the initial