Luka Modric saw a corner and maybe everything would have turned out differently. Just before the game tipped in Argentina’s direction with the first penalty, Croatia played quite a good attack. Modric himself initiated it by tunneling his opponent. The ball landed at Ivan Perisic over several stations, who shot over the goal. Although – wasn’t the ball deflected? “There should have been a corner for us,” Modric later said. If the referee gives the corner, “it’s not a penalty”.
The repeats by Fifa did not resolve the situation clearly, referee Daniele Orsato was quickly sure, but the Croatian protests were also unusually intense for a normal goal kick/corner kick decision. What happened after that was undisputed: Argentina took advantage of the first confusion in Croatia’s defense, Dejan Lovren briefly lost his bearings with a through ball, goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic cleared Julian Alvarez, penalty.
“I think we controlled the situation until then,” said Modric, rightly so. It always reads a little strange when a game, especially a World Cup semi-final, clearly ends 3-0 for the opponent. But Croatia was the more structured team until the first goal, Modric was often able to turn up the heat in midfield, Marcelo Brozovic was present, Mateo Kovacic had his actions. Alone, it lacked the penetrating power forward. “We didn’t have the will to become more dangerous. They didn’t cause us any problems until the penalty kick. That makes me a little sad,” Modric said. “After that it was difficult to play and that’s it.”
Another success of little Croatia
After Lionel Messi’s penalty goal, Croatia faced an agitated Argentinian side, and Alvarez scored the second shortly after, simply running 50 meters straight through the Croatian half to the goal. A goal that is normally only possible on the Playstation if someone presses the “Sprint” button.
Incidentally, Modric did not resign after the game, formally the World Cup is not over for him either, there is still the game for third place on Saturday. But there was a farewell wind blowing through Lusail Stadium for one of the best midfielders of this millennium. Coach Zlatko Dalic took him off the field in the 81st minute. It was not clear whether Modric was crying, but he was fighting the emotions. After the final whistle, he was comforted by Argentinian Angel Di Maria, who played with Modric at Real Madrid for four years.
It was probably the last or penultimate World Cup game for the 37-year-old, who, especially after his 30th birthday, discovered the art of simply getting better and better, contrary to the biological laws of football. But by the coming tournament he would be over 40, which would be a challenge even for Modric. However, there will be an EM in a year and a half. He will be 38 then, that’s hardly older than 37. “It’s a great generation,” said national coach Dalic, “it would be nice if we could crown it.” He himself will continue until the tournament in Germany.
Even if the elimination against Argentina was clear in the end, Croatia’s performance is again a great success. The country has four million inhabitants, after Qatar, Wales and Uruguay it was the smallest nation in the field of World Cup participants in 2022. As an independent country, Croatia has been allowed to take part in World Cups since 1998, and they have been among the top four in the world three times – only Germany and France have been able to do so more often since then.
Modric was never marketed as a global superstar
It is also clear that the last two semi-finals have a lot to do with Modric. After his tournament in Russia, he got the golden ball as world player, being the first to break the streak of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. You can still see what made him so in Qatar. Modric is two-footed, but actually he has three passing options: left, inside right and outside right. He demands the ball everywhere and he has both the technique and the body control to almost never lose it.
That links him to Toni Kroos, his midfield partner at Real Madrid, although Modric takes a slightly more dynamic approach. As a rule, Modric then plays the right pass, which is only a seemingly trivial property. When he’s standing in front of dozens of journalists, like in the Lusail catacombs, holding a white plastic bag, he still looks like he’s actually much too small for the full-contact sport of football. “You don’t have to be robust,” he once said.
He never scored many goals, and unlike others, he was never made a global superstar. His story was always told quietly: when he was six years old, the Yugoslav war broke out, his grandfather was murdered, sometimes Modric sprinted into the bunker with the ball. “War doesn’t do anybody any good,” he once said when he spoke in more detail about the time and opened the family album.
It’s probably easier for him to be eliminated from the World Cup against Lionel Messi of all people. Also such a player who does not have to be robust. “I hope Lionel Messi wins the World Cup. He’s the best player in history and he deserves it,” said Modric. The really good guys usually know themselves best.