Croatia beat Morocco 2-1 within the World Cup third-place playoff on Saturday to depart Qatar on a excessive after the European facet failed to succeed in a second consecutive last.
Mislav Orsic’s late first-half strike was sufficient to settle the competition after two early objectives inside the primary 9 minutes set the tone for a pulsating encounter, Achraf Dari cancelling out Josko Gvardiol’s opener for Croatia.
A bronze medal might have served as nothing greater than comfort after each side endured disappointment within the semifinals, however Croatia and Morocco regarded desperate to make amends after dropping to Argentina and France respectively.
“This is bronze with a golden glow. We won a tough game,” mentioned Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic, who additionally led the nation of simply 4 million individuals to their runners-up end in Russia 4 years in the past.
“This is a medal for the Croatian people… It’s really great that we won two medals in two tournaments, big congratulations to my players.”
Nerves
There have been indicators of nerves from Morocco early on with goalkeeper Yassine Bounou almost scything a clearance into his personal objective in simply the third minute.
Moroccan followers have turned up in huge numbers to assist their workforce in Qatar and Saturday was no totally different as they jeered the Croatian gamers every time that they had possession, their whistles echoing contained in the packed Khalifa International Stadium.
That didn’t deter Croatia, nonetheless, which began the sport on the entrance foot and took the lead within the seventh minute by a cleverly labored set-piece.
A cross floated into the field discovered Ivan Perisic, who expertly headed the ball into the combo, the place the masked Gvardiol bravely dived in for the header to silence the Moroccan contingent, albeit briefly.
Two minutes later, Morocco responded on the different finish with a set piece of their very own when a cross got here off Lovro Majer’s head and looped into the field, the place an unmarked Dari beat keeper Dominik Livakovic with a header.
Emboldened by the equaliser, Morocco started to search out chinks within the Croatian defence, with their motion and passing serving to to create a number of possibilities. But the African facet lacked the killer intuition in entrance of the objective.
Croatia duly punished Morocco within the forty second minute when an interception within the last third discovered Orsic, whose curling shot arched fantastically from a decent angle previous the outstretched arm of Yassine Bounou earlier than getting into off the put up.
The second half was not as quick or feisty as the primary as exhaustion after a protracted event appeared to have caught up with each groups, enjoying their seventh recreation in Qatar.
Croatia’s Andrej Kramaric even left the pitch in tears with what regarded like a thigh damage whereas objective scorer Dari additionally hobbled off having opted to proceed enjoying after the restart regardless of struggling on the finish of the primary half.
By the 67th minute, Morocco had made all 5 of its substitutions. With Romain Saiss and Nayef Aguerd benched, Jawad El Yamiq turned their fourth centre-back to bid the event goodbye when he got here off.
“Physically it was difficult, our players got tired, it was intense,” Morocco coach Walid Regragui mentioned.
PENALTY DENIED
Croatia additionally felt arduous accomplished by when Gvardiol regarded to have been tripped within the field by Sofyan Amrabat – now enjoying in defence with their centre-backs injured – however the referee refused to award a penalty.
Mateo Kovacic may have put the sport to mattress for Croatia within the 87th minute when by on objective however shot vast whereas Youssef En-Nesyri got here shut when he headed over in stoppage time.
But regardless of Morocco’s finest efforts to search out an equaliser, Croatia held on for victory and the bronze, matching the feat of its heroes from 1998 who additionally completed third.
“We wanted to please our fans. We’re still happy, we’re among the four best teams in the world,” Regragui mentioned.
“We provided everyone with a good show, we never gave up. Congratulations to Croatia, they deserve their third place.”
