A wonderful game with wonderful goals: On Saturday (December 17, 2022), Croatia and Morocco advertised the “small” final at the World Cup. In the end, the Croatians cheered.
The 2:1 (2:1) was deserved despite the outstanding fighting performance of the Africans, because the men from the Balkans showed themselves to be more creative and stronger overall. As in the semi-finals, Morocco did not develop enough of a goal threat, but otherwise contributed a great deal to a spectacular event.
First slapstick, then spectacle
And it didn’t take long. Not much was missing and the game would have started with an incredible slapstick number. The Moroccan goalkeeper Bono, who has been outstanding until now, tried to clear a ball in his own six-yard box after two minutes, but it slipped so miserably over the inside instep that he almost put it in the far post himself. Finally, the ball tumbled just past the post – Bono immediately sent a few thanks to the sky.
They didn’t help in the 7th minute: Croatia scored the lead with a sensational free-kick variant. First Luka Modric faked the execution, then Lovro Majer crossed to Ivan Perisic’s head, who sent the ball from the left towards the penalty spot. Josko Gvardiol rushed up and also headed in to make it 1-0 – brilliant!
Morocco strikes back immediately
It was a special comeback for Gvardiol. The man from Leipzig had delivered an outstanding tournament up until the semi-finals, but was then played completely dizzy by Lionel Messi in the 3-0 loss to Argentina.
Morocco also showed comeback qualities – very quickly after falling behind. Before any uncertainty could spread, Hakim Ziyech hit a free kick sharply into the Croatian penalty area, Majer involuntarily extended to his own six-yard box, where Dari resolutely used the header chance – 1:1 in the 9th minute
Advertisement for the “little” finale
This start alone was a perfect promotional film for the often criticized staging of a game for third place – with so much heart and passion both teams and their fans were on the road at the Khalifa International Stadium. And it went on seamlessly.
Bono saw a low shot from Modric through the legs of Dari very late, but then made a brilliant save (23′). On the other side, Achraf Hakimi suddenly had a lot of space on the right, but missed Youssef En-Nesyri (29th), who was completely free in the center with his cross.
Super goal by Orsic
En-Nesyri, who managed the feat of only having three touches in 66 minutes in the 2-0 draw with France, remained the target player: the center forward placed Ziyech’s cross just wide of the far post in the 37th minute.
Morocco now had the upper hand, but this was also at the expense of the best defensive of this World Cup tournament up to the semi-finals. In the 42nd minute, Bilal El Khannouss had the ball swept away in front of his own penalty area, Mislav Orsic came through Marko Livaja on the left corner of the penalty area and brilliantly curled the ball to the right inside post. Bono still stretched, but could no longer prevent the impact to 1:2.
Tricky scenes – no penalty
It went back and forth in the second half, but the quality of the scoring chances decreased a bit. There was a lot of turbulence 15 minutes before the end. Gvardiol had initially switched to a Croatian counterattack in the striker and was clearly fouled when trying to finish. The referee Abdulrahman al-Jassim from Qatar, who had been in charge until then, overlooked Sofyan Amrabat’s clear kick, surprisingly nothing came from the VAR department.
That may have something to do with the fact that Morocco also claimed a penalty kick in return – Hakimi had been checked to the ground, but the decision to continue playing was justifiable.
Livakovic saves against En-Nesyri
In the midst of the chaos of fouls, alleged fouls and VAR checks, the Moroccans’ only real chance up to that point in the second round was shattered: En-Nesyri appeared completely free in the 75th minute in front of Dominik Livakovic, but he made it big and saved it leadership and ultimately victory.
Mateo Kovacic could have improved the result for the Croatians in the end, but pushed the ball past Bono at the far post. In the sixth minute of stoppage time, En-Nesyri had the equalizer on his head again, but placed the ball centimeters over the bar.