The FIFA World Cup in Qatar is about to end. There are only two games left, the final and the fight for the 3rd place. Tomorrow, Croatia and Morocco will face each other to earn a bronze medal.
Croatia lost the semifinal against Argentina on penalties, and Morocco lost against the defending champion, France. However, the match will be played at Khalifa International Stadium.
Stats and Facts
Morocco and Croatia were in the same group in this world cup. Croatia played their first-ever game against Morocco in this group. However, both teams failed to score in this match and ended the game in a 0-0 tie.
Anyway, Croatia have a good record against African teams. They played against three African nations, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Morocco. They kept a clean sheet in all three games.
Team News
Croatia have several injury cases in their squad. Marcelo Brozovic got a knock during the match against Argentina. He was substituted in the 2nd half. Furthermore, Gvardiol is not fully fit. Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic has insisted that he will not play a player who is not 100% fit. Therefore, the manager would feature Lovro Majer and Kristijan Jakic instead of Gvardio and Brozovic. As for Morocco, the manager has no worries about his squad. The team is fully fit and ready for the third-place playoff.
The Possible Lineup for Croatia:
Livakovic; Juranovic, Lovren, Sutalo, Sosa; Modric, Jakic, Kovacic; Vlasic, Kramaric, Perisic
The Possible Lineup for Morocco:
Bono; Hakimi, El-Yamiq, Dari, Attiyat-Allah; Ounahi, Amrabat, Amallah; Ziyech, En-Nesyri, Boufa
Andrej Kramarić on Morocco
Croatian striker Andrej Kramarić talked about Morocco ahead of tomorrow’s clash. He said, “I am not surprised that Morocco has come so far. After the first game at the World Cup, we felt what kind of team it was. They are a tough team, defensively organized, they have good individuals who are in the same situation as we were in 1998 and will give their lives for that medal.”
“We are aware of this and respect them to the maximum. It will be a very similar match to the first one, there will be a lot of fight and patience, and there will be no opportunity and right to make mistakes. We saw how dangerous they were against France, they showed excellent football, and at some moments they might have surprised,” Kramarić added.
