Croatia beat Morocco 2-1 to finish third in World Cup 2022

Croatia opened the score and were quickly caught up by Morocco, before taking the lead again thanks to a marvelous kick by Mislav Orsic.

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Bangkok, Hanoi, Jakarta (GMT+7)

December 17
90’+6

Victory for Croatia!

That was the last chance for Morocco as En-Nesyri’s header went over the bar. The referee blew the final whistle and Croatia took third place in this World Cup with a 2-1 win. This is also Modric’s final World Cup game as he will retire from international football after this tournament.

Croatia’s midfielder Luka Modric (10) celebrates after winning the Qatar 2022 World Cup third place play-off match. Photo by AFP
90′

Six minutes are added to the second half.
87′

Kovacic missed a chance to secure the win for Croatia. He did it all right with some good dribbles and penetrated the penalty area, but his shot faded past the far post.
84′

Amallah received a yellow card and a number of Morocco players were surrounding the referee. Petkovic held his face after being hit by an arm. There was a bit of pushing and shoving from the players on both sides before things settled down.
75′

Fine save from Livakovic! A cross from the left reached En-Nesyri, whose close-range shot is blocked by Livakovic.
74′

Gvardiol stormed into the area after receiving a pass from Orsic and fell down under a challenge from Amrabat. The referee said no penalty and the Croatia players were not happy.
71′

Vlasic sought a goal with a really far shot but it stayed off target.
66′

Double change for Croatia as Bruno Petkovic and Mario Pasalic replaced Livaja and Majer.
64′

Two changes for Morocco. Boufal and an injured Dari were replaced by Anass Zaroury and Badr Benoun.
60′

Kramaric was injured and couldn’t continue playing. Filling his spot is Nikola Vlasic.

Croatia and Morocco made several changes to their starting lineups for their World Cup third-place playoff at Khalifa International Stadium on Saturday, with both coaches giving opportunities to players benched during the tournament.

Morocco will miss skipper Romain Saiss who lasted only 21 minutes in the semi-final defeat by France before he was substituted.

Croatia skipper Luka Modric starts in midfield alongside Mateo Kovacic, but Marcelo Brozovic sits out with Lovro Majer coming in. Marko Livaja and Mislav Orsic start in attack.

Croatia: Dominik Livakovic, Josip Stanisic, Ivan Perisic, Lovro Majer, Mateo Kovacic, Andrej Kramaric, Luka Modric, Marko Livaja, Mislav Orsic, Josko Gvardiol, Josip Sutalo

Morocco: Yassine Bounou, Achraf Hakimi, Abdelhamid Sabiri, Jawad El Yamiq, Sofyan Amrabat, Hakim Ziyech, Soufiane Boufal, Youssef En-Nesyri, Achraf Dari, Bilal El Khannouss, Yahya Attiat-Allah