Croatia, the finalist of the Russia World Cup, has ended their journey in the Qatar World in the best possible way. They have defeated Morocco in a thrilling third-place playoff match by a 2-1 margin. As a result, the Croatians signed off the Qatar World Cup with Bronze medals.
Croatia’s debut in the FIFA World Cup was in 1998. Before that, Croatia was a part of Yugoslavia. However, Croatia won their first Bronze in their debut world cup in 1998, defeating The Netherlands. And today, they repeated history once again.
As it happened
Morocco has become the GIANT KILLER of the Qatar World Cup. They qualified for the semifinal as the first African country. However, Morocco were not lucky enough to beat France in the semifinal. On the other hand, Croatia lost the semifinal against the flying Argentina. Therefore, Morocco and Croatia faced off today in the third-place playoff.
In this match, Croatia’s manager Zlatko Dalic set up the team formation with 4-2-3-1, where Livaja played as the only striker. The manager deployed Luka Modric in the defensive midfield but gave him the freedom to go upper position.
On the other hand, Morocco boss Walid Regragui played his team in a 4-3-3 formation. Hakim Ziyech, En-Nasyri, and Boufal played in the frontline.
Both teams were desperate to get Bronze from this world cup. So, Morocco and Croatia started playing attacking football from the very first minute. But Croatia hit first. In just seven minutes of the match, the finalist of the 2018 world cup, took the lead as Jasko Gvardiol scored a brilliant goal with a powerful header.
However, Morocco took only two minutes to find the equalizer. In the 9th minute, Moroccan defender Achraf Dari leveled the scoreline. The game became more exciting after this one. Both parties tried hard to take the lead again.
Anyway, Croatia have a better midfield in this match. Luka Modric played like a warrior. He kept creating chances. As a result, Croatia scored again. In the 42nd minute, the Croats took the lead as Mislav Orasic found the net with the help of Livaja.
Morocco tried and fought for their lives to level the scoreline in the second half. They could have scored one in the final ten minutes, but Croatian goalkeeper Livakovic made an extraordinary save to deny the goal. Unfortunately, Morocco couldn’t score in the remaining minutes. Thus, Croatia won the Bronze in the Qatar World Cup.