Third place at the World Cup goes to Croatia after a game that saw both sides give their all. Croatia and Morocco fulfilled what their coaches said before the match: “It’s not the match we wanted to play, but we will give everything to be third”.
Honor to both, winners and losers. The Croatian celebrations and the Moroccan anger with the referee (a little over the top) say it all.
Blow by blow, verse by verse
If anyone expected the depression of defeat to cause a bland match, they found a surprise. Bono took it upon himself, right at the start, to get hearts racing with what would have been one of the funniest own goals ever seen. From then on it was all rock and roll, maybe more like speed metal.
Croatia took the lead with a beautifully crafted goal, Morocco equalized quickly and the match entered a frenetic rhythm. The Moroccans were going for every ball as if it was the last one of the final and no Croatian was looking the other way.
Orsic‘s goal to make it 2-1 was, by its beauty, the just reward for what was seen on the pitch. The Moroccans made it clear to the referee that it was not a friendly when they went after him like wolves for not giving them a corner kick. Not a second of truce, not even when Kramaric was injured did Morocco accept the white flag claimed by Croatia. The battle lasted until the end, until the header with which Morocco could have had a second leveller. What a game.
Goodbye and thanks, Luka
It’s not about physical pain, but almost. The dance at the Khalifa was Modric‘s last in the World Cup. As if he wanted to be original to the end, he even misplaced one of his trademark outside passes. The feeling was strange, the feeling of wanting to enjoy every ball that passed through the no.10 of Croatia and, at the same time, wanting to deny that every touch was one of the last in the World Cup.
The word thank you flew around the stadium in Croatian, in Arabic, in any language. Qatar leaves us without a universal hero of the game. He did not want to miss a single minute of his last match at the World Cup.
Luka Modric, thank you very much, hvala lijepo.
A match to remember
As much as you hear and read, the third and fourth places in World Cups matter. Being third in a World Cup is something extraordinary. Whatever national team you are. Nothing takes away the pain of not being in the final, but over time, over the years, a third place in the World Cup is an achievement.
Perisic, whatever it takes
At 33, he was one of those who could have looked the other way. But that option is not in his vocabulary, nor in that of any Croatian. Perisic played and did so as a left-back, not as a winger, the no.3 of a lifetime in a back four.
Away from what he likes and knows best, scoring and assisting, the patriotic Ivan was a great defender to cover Ziyech and Hakimi. Dalic knew what he was doing, he is one of his favorite soldiers.
Credit to Morocco
What has been done remains for history. Only Regragui‘s players know the effort they carry in their legs to have achieved something never before achieved in African soccer. They return home proud, but also exhausted, exhausted and injured. They arrived for the seventh match with injuries, and in the third and fourth places they lost more players due to muscular problems.
VAR at this World Cup…
What in Russia was exemplary and passed with almost no mistakes, in Qatar has been a setback with a complicated explanation. The collection of horrors has been (let’s hope it stays in the past and does not affect the final) outrageous.
This time there was a trip on Gvardiol in the Moroccan area that is impossible not to give as a penalty.
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