The penultimate match of the World Cup is over and it is Croatia who is taking the bronze medal home! Find out what happened in the 3rd place final!
| J. Gvardiol 7′ M. Orsic 42′ | A. Dari 9′ |
Location: Khalifa International Stadium, Doha
Referee: Ibrahim Al-Jassim Abdulrahman, Qatar
Croatia
Manager: Z. Dalić
Subs: N. Vlasic 61′, B. Petkovic 66′, M. Pasalic 66′, K. Jakic 90′
Morocco
Manager: W. Regragui
Subs: I. Chair 46′, A. Ounahi 56′, A. Zaroury 64′, B. Benoun 64′, S. Amallah 66′
The start of the match was absolutely crazy, as both teams scored similar goals in the first 10 minutes. First it was Gvardiol with a nice header after a freekick, then Dari equalized in a similar manner. Generally it was Croatia who attacked more, however Morocco had it’s chances. Orsic added a second one in the 42nd minute, after a very nice finesse shot from the edge of the box.
The second half was mostly Morocco trying to get the goal to push the match to extra time, however they just couldn’t get another one. They won the game on xG, 0.97 versus Croatia’s 0.7, however we must not forget that Orsic’s great strike had a low xG.
It is Croatia who takes the bronze, only 4 years after their 2nd placed finish in Russia! It is probably Modric’s last World Cup, however this small nation of only 4 million people can be very proud of it’s football team! Same goes for Morocco, who had an absolutely brilliant run and grabbing 4th place for an African team is a first!