Croatia v Morocco: Key moments as Croatia claim third place
Despite some distasteful scenes at full time from the Moroccan players towards the officials, the Atlas Lions can hold their heads high after an incredible tournament.
See our as-it-happened commentary below!
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90+7' The referee checks his watch and blows his whistle to signal the end of this match.
90+6' Great ball in from Yahya Attiat-Allah. Youssef En Nesyri (Morocco) should really have done better with a close-range header, but he heads it a whisker over the crossbar.
90+5' The referee signals a substitution. Kristijan Jakic (Croatia) is brought on as a substitute for Mislav Orsic.
87' Mislav Orsic provides the assist in the box, but Mateo Kovacic (Croatia) places his shot a fraction wide of the right post.
84' Selim Amallah (Morocco) picked up a yellow card for talking out of turn to the referee. He has to be careful for the remainder of the match.
76' Here comes the ref’s decision after the VAR review. It’s not penalty to Croatia as the referee indicates there was no infringement!
76' Play continues despite the shouts by some Croatia players for a penalty. Wait! Referee Abdulrahman Al Jassim interrupts the game right now and he will review that decision using VAR! Let's see what happens.
75' Youssef En Nesyri (Morocco) thinks he has scored after reacting fastest to a lofted ball into the box, but Dominik Livakovic pulls a rabbit out of the hat and makes a stunning save to thwart him for close range.
74' Josko Gvardiol (Croatia) goes down under a challenge in the box, but the ref immediately waves away the appeals from all players.
69' The referee gives a yellow card to Azzedine Ounahi (Morocco) for talking back. He must be careful for the remainder of the match.
66' Jawad El Yamiq just cannot continue due to injury and has to be substituted. Selim Amallah (Morocco) replaces him.
66' Zlatko Dalic has decided to introduce fresh legs, with Mario Pasalic (Croatia) replacing Lovro Majer.
66' A substitution has been made. Marko Livaja is replaced by Bruno Petkovic (Croatia).
64' Achraf Dari is being substituted because of an injury. Walid Regragui sends Badr Benoun (Morocco) on the pitch.
64' The manager makes a subsitution with Anass Zaroury (Morocco) coming on for Sofiane Boufal.
61' Problems for Zlatko Dalic as Andrej Kramaric is not able to play anymore. His injury is too serious and Nikola Vlasic (Croatia) replaces him.
56' Here is a change. Bilal El Khannous is going off and Walid Regragui gives the last tactical orders to Azzedine Ounahi (Morocco).
47' Ivan Perisic links up with Mislav Orsic (Croatia), who fires just wide of the left post from the edge of the box.
46' Walid Regragui makes a switch. Ilias Chair is coming on in place of Abdelhamid Sabiri (Morocco) at the start of the second period.
46' The game restarts for the second half.
45+3' The first half of today's match has just finished.
42' 2 - 1
Goal! Mislav Orsic (Croatia) latches on to a superb pass inside the box, finds himself in a promising position and fires a shot in off the inside of the right post. The goalkeeper was helpless to keep out his effort.
37'Hakim Ziyech sends a lovely ball from the corner into the path of Youssef En Nesyri (Morocco), whose close-range header flashes just wide of the left post. The ball is off of the pitch and it's a goal kick for Croatia.
33' Bilal El Khannous plays a pass to Sofiane Boufal (Morocco), but he fails to get a decent shot away from inside the box and the ball goes high over the bar.
29' Achraf Hakimi (Morocco) breaks past challenges inside the box, but puts too much pace on his pass to Youssef En Nesyri.
24' Luka Modric (Croatia) blows a good opportunity. He has a lot of space around him and fires a decent low shot from the edge of the box towards the middle of the net, but the goalkeeper makes a brilliant save and stops this one!
18' Mislav Orsic (Croatia) misses a good chance to score. An inch-perfect cross into the box finds Mislav Orsic (Croatia) who rises for a header, but sends the ball well over the bar.
9' 1 - 1
Achraf Dari (Morocco) finds space inside the box and scores with a terrific header low inside the right post, giving the goalkeeper no chance.
7' 1 - 0
Goal! Ivan Perisic peels away from his marker to connect with the resulting free kick and heads the ball towards Josko Gvardiol (Croatia), who does brilliantly to nod the ball into the net. He makes it 1:0.
1' Today's match has just started, enjoy the game!
Pre-match:
Both sides must get over their respective emotional lows of missing out on the final in order to win something tangible, which in this case will be a bronze medal and a reported extra $2m in prize money for the victor!
Croatia’s route to the final four was impressive, yet not without its bumps in the road. The first of which was a goalless draw against none other than Morocco to open the tournament and stalemates were generally the theme of their World Cup, with penalty shootouts required in both of their knockout successes. However with European sides claiming third place in every World Cup after 1978, Croatia may be quietly confident of winning in what is likely to be the final appearance at a World Cup for 2018 Ballon d’Or winner Luka Modrić, probably the greatest Croatian player of all time.
No matter what happens now, Morocco have made history at this tournament by becoming the first African nation to finish within the top-four at a World Cup. The threat of Croatia perhaps won’t faze Walid Regragui’s men after recording a penalties win over Spain which preceded a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Portugal in the quarter-final, proving they can mix it with elite European nations.
Morocco held their own against France for large portions of their semi-final clash, although they were ultimately undone by a lack of cutting edge and fitness issues. Regragui initially named key defenders Romain Saïss and Nayef Aguerd in the starting XI, although both played little or no part in the semi-final due to injuries as Regragui had to change tact early and put the defeat down to his side being “at 60% or 70%”, which is perhaps a cause for concern ahead of this final game.
Morocco starting XI: Yassine Bono - Achraf Hakimi, Achraf Dari, Jawad El Yamiq, Yahia Attiyat Allah - Bilal El Khannouss, Sofyan Amrabat, Abdelhamid Sabiri - Hakim Ziyech, Youssef En-Nesyri, Sofiane Boufal
Croatia starting XI: Dominik Livakovic - Josip Stanisic, Josip Sutalo, Josko Gvardiol - Ivan Perisic, Lovro Majer, Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic, Mislav Orsic - Andrej Kramaric, Marko Livaja
Players to watch: Ivan Perišić has started every game for Croatia during the World Cup and is their top contributor, having a hand in half of their goals (G1, A2). Trying to outdo him will be Morocco’s talented 25-year-old forward Youssef En-Nesyri has plenty left in the tank and will hope to make another big impact at the tournament following his two match-winning goals.
Hot stat: Ten of the last 11 World Cup third place play-offs produced over 2.5 total goals whilst eight games during that sequence also saw both teams score.
World Cup trivia: Only one third place play-off in World Cup history has gone to extra time, when France defeated Belgium with two extra time goals in a 4-2 victory back in 1986.
