Croatia take third place while Morocco leave the World Cup as warriors, a run that will never be forgotten. While Croatia had another spectacular run at the World Cup, Morocco had an incredible journey to the semifinals. In an unlikely third place matchup, Croatia and Morocco will leave this World Cup with their heads high.
Croatia got on the board first with a set-piece play goal by Josko Gvardiol. Morocco then copied the same play and scored from a set-piece by Achraf Dari to tie the game back up. It was Mislav Orsic’s goal that was the decider as Croatia held on the 2-1 win and take third place.
Croatia shocked the world in 2018 when Luka Modric led his Croatian team to the finals in Russia. They defeated Denmark, Russia, and England, but fell to France 4-1 to come in second place. This run granted Modric a Ballon D’or, the first Croatian to ever win the prestigious award.
Saturday’s third place game was the last time we will see Modric playing in a World Cup as he already announced that Qatar will be his final World Cup with Croatia. The golden ball winner from 2018, Modric will go down in history as one of the best midfielders ever to play. The good news is though Modric will not feature in another World Cup, he will continue to play international football until at least 2023.
Morocco came into Qatar with a +20000 odd to win and projected to come in 22nd place. Instead, they won their group and beat Spain and Portugal to make it all the way to the final four. The expectations for this Moroccan team were set low, with a coaching change just before the start of the tournament.
Born in France, Walid Regragui played for the Moroccan national team from 2001-2009. He took over the team with very little time to prepare. However, he was able to come up with a great defensive formation that only allowed four open-play goals all tournament. Sevilla goalkeeper Yassine Bounou was the star of the team with an unbelievable performance against Spain to block two penalties.
Morocco also can thank the fans for their outstanding support all tournament. Besides Argentina and Brazil, Morocco had one of the biggest fan turnouts with every game feeling like a home game for the team.
Even though Morocco could not secure third place, they are the highest African team to ever finish at a World Cup with their fourth place finish. They finished this World Cup above Brazil, England, Spain, the Netherlands, and Portugal.
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