In what promised to be a classic curtain raiser for today’s finals, Croatia beat history-makers Morocco to secure number three spot.
The 2-1 win over Africa’s ever semi-finalists promised to be a mouth-watering encounter as the The Croats showed their fire power in the seventh minute when their center back, Josko Gvardiol, gave Vatreni a much needed first half lead. However, their lead only lasted for less than two minutes before first African World Cup semi-finalists pulled an equaliser through Achraf Dari. Both scorers for either teams had a few things in common: both were center backs, jersey number 20, and they both scored through headers.
The game seemed to be going to the fifteen minutes break with both teams at level before Mislav Orsic curled in a sumptuous second for the Croats in the last three minutes of the first half.
In the second half, both teams proved their defensive prowess as no one allowed the other to penetrate.
Morocco surprised the world after being the first African team to ever sail through to World Cup semi finals. They beat some of the crème de le crème of world football. Spain and Portugal had to bow out of the competition after being knocked out the Morocco’s Atlas Lions.
The Croats, on the other hand, seemed not to have got what they thought they should have got in this World Cup edition: lifting the gong. In the last World Cup edition in Russia, Croatia were number two in the world after being edged out by France in the finals. This time round, it was going to be a repeat of the last World Cup finals pitting the same teams before Argentina beat them in the semis, to book a date with France in this edition’s finals.
