These two squads will face each other for the second time in this tournament after their devastating defeat in their respective semi-final matches. Follow for the best football team in the world related stories here!
Croatia and Morocco already faced each other in the Group F matchup that ended in a scoreless draw. So the familiarity between these two teams will not be difficult for each other vying to have a podium finish. You may visit us for an upcoming article about the best soccer players in the World Cup 2022.
The Croats suffered a huge defeat and lost their chance for consecutive finals appearances from the hands of Lionel Scaloni’s Argentina squad 3-0. Lionel Messi and Julian Alvarez both orchestrated the rampage to give La Albiceleste a second final shot at the World Cup trophy. On the other hand, Morocco’s impressive World Cup campaign ended in a semi-final as they fell from Les Blues championship caliber performance.
Coming into this World Cup, both teams are highly considered underdogs and were just expected to finish at least in the group stage or a round of 16, however they exceeded expectations and reached the final four — especially Morocco as they became the first African and Arab country to every reach this stage, but was surprised by the great and world-class performance of France.
Croatia – Morocco: Venue, Date and Kickoff time
Location: Ar-Rayyan, Qatar – Khalifa International Stadium
Date: December 17, Saturday – 11:00 PM (PST)
Croatia and Morocco starting lineups
Morocco Coach Walid Regragui is expecting this game to be more likely a World Cup final atmosphere. The Atlas Lions have been the surprise and the ultimate underdog in Qatar and will end this story on a high note despite losing the chance for the World Cup final.
Regragui said: “At a World Cup this was perhaps one step too far. Not in terms of quality or tactics, but physically we came up short. We had too many players at 60 per cent or 70 per cent. With all our squad fit we could have caused them a lot of problems.”
Croatia predicted starting XI
Formation: 4-3-3, right to left
Starting XI: Livakovic (GK) — Juranovic, Lovren, Gvardiol, Sosa — Modric, Brozovic, Kovacic — Pasalic, Kramaric, Perisic.
Zlatko Dalic is very keen and eager to take home and secure third place, so this lineup, with mostly huge and tall players to match the defense and aggressiveness of the Moroccan side, is very ideal for the Croats and Dalic. The team will likely to bring this in another penalty shootout, which they have a huge advantage.
Morocco predicted starting XI
Formation: 4-3-3, right to left
Starting XI: Bounou (GK) — Hakimi, Dari, El Yamiq, Attiyat Allah — Ounahi, Amrabat, Amallah — Ziyech, En-Nesyri, Boufal.
Morocco will likely have a huge problem heading into this game, they lost their primary defender Nayef Aguerd to an injury right before the kickoff in their semi-final match against France. So expect the Atlas Lions to face Croatia in much inferior look and power. Their coach, Walid Chedira, will also possibly serve a one-game suspension after he received a red card.
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