Croatia secured a narrow 2-1 victory over Morocco in the third-place playoff of the FIFA World Cup 2022 at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar. Josko Gvardiol became Croatia’s youngest goal-scorer at the World Cup in the 7th minute, only to see his opener cancelled out 112 seconds later by Achraf Dari. The Vatreni did go into the break with a narrow lead after Mislav Orsic’s audacious curling effort sneaked in after hitting the post, ensuring third place for Croatia.
Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic made five changes to the side that lost against Argentina in the semi-final, and three of them were in defence. Josip Stanisic and Josip Sutalo came in to replace Josip Juranovic and Dejan Lovren. Borna Sosa dropped to the bench as Ivan Perisic was deployed as a left wing-back. Lovro Majer came into the midfield, and Mislav Orsic occupied the right wing-back position, with Marko Livaja starting up front alongside Andrej Kramaric. Marcelo Brozovic and Mario Pasalic dropped to the bench.
Morocco coach Walid Regragui made three changes to his side that faltered against France during their last outing. Attiyat Allah came in to replace the injured Noussair Mazraoui. Romain Saiss and Azzedine Ounahi started from the bench as Abdelhamid Sabiri and Bilal El Khannous were drafted into the Moroccan starting eleven.
The game got off to a lively start as both defences were breached by defenders inside the opening ten minutes. Croatia drew first blood with a Majer free-kick that was cushioned by Perisic before Gvardiol's diving header found the back of the net. While the Vatreni faithful were still celebrating the goal, the Atlas Lions reinstated parity at the other end. Hakim Ziyech’s free-kick from the right flank came off Majer’s head before falling in the path of Dari, who headed it past the keeper from close range to score his first international goal.
In the 24th minute, the Moroccan defence failed to clear their lines as Modric fired a shot at goal. Yassine Bounou spilled it but recovered quickly to deny Perisic an easy tap-in. Three minutes from the break, Croatia retook the lead with an absolutely stunning goal from Orsic. Majer’s poor touch disallowed him to get a shot away, but the ball eventually came to Marko Livaja, who squared it to his left towards Orsic before the winger produced a sublime curling shot that bounced off the far post and bounced into the goal.
At the break, Regragui made one change that saw Ilias Chair come on for Sabiri in an effort to change things around a little. However, Croatia started the second half on the front foot. Minutes in, Jawad El Yamiq’s crucial block guided Orsic’s venomous effort from the edge of the box into the side net. As the Vatreni put more pressure on the pedal, Kramaric went down around the hour mark. He was eventually replaced by Nikola Vlasic. Defensive concerns kept piling up for the Atlas Lions as El Yamiq limped off the pitch, clutching his hamstring as Selim Amallah replaced him.
In the 74th minute, Gvardiol went down inside Morocco’s box under pressure from Sofyan Amrabat. There was contact, but VAR did not award Croatia a penalty. At the other end, on the break, the Atlas Lions came close to scoring, but Achraf Hakimi was denied by Luka Modric shortly before Youssef En-Nesyri’s half-volley was kept at bay by Dominik Livakovic. Less than two minutes after a penalty appeal by the Vatreni, Morocco appealed for a spot-kick after Hakimi was shoved off the ball right outside the box by Bruno Petkovic.
Three minutes from the full-time whistle, Croatia had a chance to put the game to bed. Mateo Kovacic was at the end of Stanisic’s pass into the box, but the midfielder’s shot from a tight angle flashed across the face of goal before going out of play for a goal kick. Six minutes were added on as the Atlas Lions pushed forward one last time as Attiyat Allah came really close, but it just was not their evening as they had to settle for the fourth spot at an extremely memorable FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar.
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