QATAR 2022 WORLD CUP:Croatia beat Morocco 2-1 to finish in third place for the second time at a World Cup, winning Bronze Medal
By Samson Adeyemo
The 2018 runners up Croatia has picked up the bronze medal at the 2022 FIFA World Cup after a hard fought 2-1 win over Morocco in the third place playoff at the khalifa International Stadium, Doha.
The two teams had earlier met during the group stages of the tournament and were also forced to meet the second time after each team looses to Argentina and France respectively in their semifinals.
The game got off to an explosive start, with both sides finding the net inside in the opening ten minutes.
Croatia took the lead after seven minutes of play through Josko Gvardiol diving header.
Morocco replied immediately through centre-back Achraf Dari, who started in place of Saiss. He headed in the equalizer through Hakim Ziyech’s free-kick which looped up off the head of Majer, allowing Dari to head the ball past Dominik Livakovic, a minute after the game had restart.
After the fascinating start to the game, the match settled as both sides looked to out play each other with various tactics.
However, the Vatreni delivered the killer blow just at the end of halftime. With Mislav Orsic curling first time strike from the edge of the box past Bono into the back of the net through the upright in the 45th minute to make the game 2-1 before the half time break.
Zlatko Dalić’s men held on to their 2-1 advantage throughout a breath taking second half with the Atlas lions looking more threatening and desperate for another leveller.
With the final whistle, The Vatreni have now claimed back-to-back podium finishes in the FIFA World Cup for the first time in their football history.
Their captain, Luka Modric playing his final World Cup match at 37 years old and they claimed their third podium finish in the World Cup since their debut in 1998.
