The battle for third and fourth place in any competition is one that participating teams do not want to play as it is the consequence of receiving a painful defeat just a few days before that blocked their way to the grand final. Croatia and Morocco come into this match after seeing their dream of fighting to win the Qatar 2022 World Cup dashed by defeats on Tuesday against Argentina (3-0) and on Wednesday against France (2-0). , respectively, but unlike other editions, both face this so-called consolation match with maximum motivation, knowing in advance that only the champion will be remembered.
Certainly Morocco, the first African team to reach the semifinals in the entire history of World Cups, is a bit more involved. They were moved by the desire to complete their titanic feat by achieving third place against the current world runner-up.
A Croatia that gives the match relevance despite the disappointment of being knocked out in a second successive final. He will not be able to revalidate the runner-up position, but he has the reach to repeat the third place in France 1998 and dedicate it to the great captain Luka Modric, who at the age of 37 will play the last game of a World Cup. “People are proud of us,” said Mateo Kovacic, convinced.
“For us it was a good match. We fight for the medal. We have a lot of respect for the tournament that Morocco made and I am sure that for them this is also an important game and they will face it with the best lineup”, highlighted Zlatko Dalic. The Croatian coach added: “It will be a more difficult opponent than the first game, because they have grown during the tournament.”
The beginning of a great career
On November 23 when both teams drew (0-0) in their World Cup debut in a group F match. The ‘Atlas lion’ then beat Belgium (0-2) and Canada (1- 2), passed as first to eighth and continued to surprise Spain with penalties (0-0, 3-0) and Portugal (1-0).
“Today it will be more open, the two teams will be more untied, I think there will be more space,” Walid Regragui predicted about “our seventh World Cup game in a month while we played six in the last 20 years.” The Moroccan coach was sincere when he said “I will not fool anyone, this is not the game we would have wanted to play. I thought we could win the World Cup and now we have to clear our heads to face it”. And he said that it is “important to bring a bronze medal that will raise the level higher.”
low and doubtful
Regragui removed centre-back and captain Romain Saiss, who played in the semifinal with discomfort and could only last 20 minutes on the field, and there are also doubts about defender Naif Aguerd (low against in France after suffering in the warm-up) and Noussair Mazraoui (replaced at half-time after also playing ‘touched’) and striker Youssef En-Nesyri.
Dalic also has some lame players, such as Juranovic, Brozovic and Gvardiol, who played with one foot against Argentina, which is why he asked them to “be honest if you feel any discomfort. I don’t want them to be 100% and need to be changed”.
A statement that confirms that now there is also a lot at stake at the Khalifa International stadium at the start of the grand final despite the fact that Morocco and Croatia will undoubtedly want to be there. Regragui admitted that he did not digest the defeat against France and Dalic, although he praised Argentina and the ‘bleus’, he preferred not to make any predictions.
The Qatari referee causes doubt
Van Boekel with VAR
Qatari Abdulrahman Al Jassim will officiate the Croatia-Morocco game with fellow referees from the host country Taleb Al Marri and Saoud Ahmed Almaqaleh as assistants. The fourth referee is the Brazilian Raphael Claus and the person in charge of the VAR is, among others, the Dutchman Pol van Boekel, a bad memory for Barça this season in their Champions League match against Inter at the San Siro (1-0).
The appointment of a Qatari referee was received with suspicion by Zlatko Dalic. “FIFA took a big risk. I don’t want to underestimate anyone, but I hope that after the game let’s not talk about the referee”, said the Croatian coach yesterday, very critical of the Italian Daniele Orsato for pointing out the penalty, in his non-existent opinion, which opened the defeat against Argentina in the semifinals ( 3-0).
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
