Croatia’s route to the final four was impressive, despite its bumps in the road. The first of which was a goalless draw against none other than Morocco to open the tournament, and stalemates were generally the theme of their World Cup, with penalty shootouts required in both of their knockout successes.
Croatia
From the initial 206 nations that entered qualification for Qatar 2022, Group F’s top-two teams, Croatia and Morocco, will battle it out to determine third and fourth place. Both sides must overcome their emotional lows of missing out on the final to win something tangible, which in this case will be a bronze medal and a reported extra $2 million in prize money for the victor! Croatia’s route to the final four was impressive, despite its bumps in the road. The first of which was a goalless draw against none other than Morocco to open the tournament, and stalemates were generally the theme of their World Cup, with penalty shootouts required in both of their knockout successes.
However, with European sides claiming third place in every World Cup after 1978, Croatia may be quietly confident of winning in what is likely to be the final appearance at a World Cup for 2018 Ballon D’or winner Luka Modric, probably the greatest Croatian player of all time.
Morocco
No matter what happens now, Morocco have made history at the World Cup by becoming the first African nation to finish within the top four at a World Cup. The threat of Croatia perhaps won’t faze Walid Regragui’s men after recording a penalties win over Spain, which preceded a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Portugal in the quarter-final, proving they can mix it with elite European nations. Morocco held their own against France for large portions of their semi-final clash, although a lack of cutting-edge and fitness issues ultimately undid them.
Regragui initially named key defenders Romain Saiss and Nayef Aguerd in the starting XI, although both played little or no part in the semi-final due to injuries as Regragui had to change tact early and put the defeat down to his side being “at 60 per cent or 70 per cent”, which is perhaps a cause for concern ahead of this final match.
Ivan Perisic has started every game for Croatia during the World Cup and is their top contributor, having a hand in half of their goals. Trying to outdo him will be Morocco’s talented 25-year-old forward. Youssef En-Nesyri has plenty left in the tank and will hope to make another significant impact at the tournament following his two match-winning goals. Ten of the last 11 World Cup third-place play-offs produced over 2.5 total goals, whilst eight games during that sequence also saw both teams score. Only one third-place play-off in World Cup history has gone to extra time when France defeated Belgium with two extra-time goals in a 4-2 victory back in 1986.