Croatia defeated Morocco to take third place at the 2022 World Cup
Date/Time: 17/12/2022, 16:00 CET
Venue: Khalifa International Stadium
Referee: Abdulrahman Al-Jassim
Croatia secured third place at the 2022 World Cup thanks to a 2-1 win over their semi-finalists Morocco.
The European nation took the lead through Josko Guardiola in the seventh minute, but Achraf Dari equalized just two minutes later.
However, just before half-time, Mislav Oršić’s goal put Croatia back ahead and the goal in the battle for third place equaled the difference between the two sides.
Morocco celebrated their best ever World Cup, being defeated by France in the semifinals while Croatia were eliminated in the final.
Morocco goalkeeper Bono almost kicked the ball into his own goal in the second minute and had it landed between the posts it would have been the most curious goal of the tournament so far.
Croatia took the lead in the 7th minute and in-demand centre-back Guardiol scored after Ivan Perišić sent him on.
Morocco fell behind with two minutes to go and Dari struck from close range after a Luka Modrić free-kick flew high into the Croatian box.
It was an incredibly open game, with Josip Stanišić firing over the Moroccan’s cross in the 14th minute before Andrej Kramarić shot over Bono moments later.
Bono needed to stay alive to save Modric’s shot in the 24th minute before Perišić headed over the bar at a stage when it looked like Croatia were likely to find a second goal.
Youssef En-Nesyri headed just wide of the far post from a Hakim Ziyech corner with 10 minutes remaining before he struck five minutes later.
However, Croatia took the lead just before the break when Oršić hit the net with a brilliant spin, the ball hitting the inside post before hitting the post.
Oršić was on the second point right after the restart and the striker’s attack went over the goal.
Nikola Vlašić made the next more serious attempt in the 70th minute when he fired wide of the Moroccan goal at the end of the second half.
In the 74th minute, Croatia vigorously demanded a penalty when Guardiol went down in the penalty area after a tackle by Sofyan Amrabati, but the referee was uninterested.
Then came a VAR review of a possible penalty for Morocco when Achraf Hakimi fell but the save was outside the box.
Mateo Kovačić had a chance to appease the dispute in the 87th minute when he entered the Moroccan box, but the Chelsea midfielder narrowly hit the post.
Morocco then had a golden opportunity to equalize in the sixth minute of added time in the late 1990s when he rose higher in the box to find a deep cross, but his header was too high to give Croatia the win.
Lineups:
Croatia Replacements : Grbic, Ivusic, Barisic, Erlic, Lovren, Sosa, Vida, Juranovic, Brozovic, Vlasic, Pasalic, Sucic, Jakic, Petkovic, Budimir
Morocco Replacements : Mohamedi, Tagnaouti, Aguerd, Saiss, Benoun, Ounahi, Chair, Amallah, Jabrane, Hamdallah, Zaroury, Aboukhlal, Ezzalzouli, Cheddira
Scorers:
Croatia
7′ Josko Gvardiol
42′ Mislav Orsic
Morocco
9′ Dari Achraf
Yellow Cards:
Morocco
Azzedine Ounahi
Selim Amallah
Match Stats:
