Croatia, already a finalist in 2018, managed to keep its place on the podium of the World Cup-2022 on Saturday thanks to its victory (2-1) against Morocco in the match for 3rd place.
While the future of the iconic Modric remains uncertain at 37 despite still impressive activity on both sides of the pitch, his teammates have done everything to make him want to continue the adventure by succeeding, like in 1998, to rebound after a disappointment in the semi-finals.
Specialist in extra time and shots on goal, Croatia, having become compact again after their absence against Argentina, therefore waited for their 7th match in Qatar to clinch a 2nd victory which allows them to finish on a good note.
Whether the Real runner finally decides to continue or not, Dalic had chosen to prepare for the future by launching Stanisic and Sutalo in defense alongside Gvardiol, as well as Orsic in the left lane of the attack. And the start of the meeting proved him right.
Gvardiol, with a header from a superb combination, quickly opened the scoring (7), while Orsic restored the advantage with a splendid curling shot (42).
Meanwhile, Dari, heckled since the start of the World Cup, had also managed to equalize with a header (9), taking advantage of a rare hesitation from Livakovic.
More enterprising teams
But despite their good will, the Atlas Lions, weakened by their absences in defense and all the efforts made since the start of the World Cup, have also taken too many reckless risks by systematically trying to start cleanly from behind.
This had the effect of causing many ball losses in front of their goal as soon as the ball was recovered.
And since Bounou was not as imperial as in the first six games, Morocco, despite a few chances given to Hakimi (29) or En-Nesyri (37, 90+6), failed to break free.
In the second half, the Croats generally continued to dominate as a few spaces opened up, and Morocco suffered, which they often did in Qatar except for their semi-final loss to France.
The injuries of Kramaric (61), Dari (64), El-Yamiq (67) also had the effect of breaking the rhythm a bit and showed that it was time for the tournament to end for both teams.
First African team to reach the semi-finals of a World Cup, Morocco therefore fails to become the first selection from the continent to finish on the podium.
On the other hand, the two teams can congratulate themselves on having shown a much more enterprising face than when they faced each other in the pool on November 23. That day, at the start of their adventure, they seemed to fear each other and failed to find the opening (0-0).