The World Cup continues Saturday with the third-place game between Morocco and Croatia. The losing teams from this week’s semifinal games go head-to-head in Rayyan, Qatar, with the winner earning third place in the tournament and the loser placing fourth. Morocco has already secured its legacy as the highest-finishing African nation in the event’s history. Croatia, which was the runner-up in 2018, had a third-place finish in its first World Cup appearance in 1998. Follow along for live updates and highlights from the game.
Here’s what to know
- Morocco emerged as the tournament’s Cinderella story, leaving traditional European soccer powers in its wake before it finally bowed out against France in the semifinals.
- Croatia took out top-ranked Brazil before it ran out of steam in its semifinal game against Argentina. This is probably the final World Cup appearance of star midfielder Luka Modric.
- France and Argentina will play for the world championship Sunday at 10 a.m. Eastern. Find the knockout stage bracket and results here.
Return to menuReporter covering general and national sports This game has assumed an energetic pace since the equalizer.
Morocco, whose defensive shape has been exposed in ways it had not before the semifinal, has done well enough defusing hopeful Croatian attacks — sometimes at the last moment. Unlike the semifinal, it can take comfort in its early equalizer.
Morocco quickly equalizes
Return to menuThen it’s Morocco’s turn. It’s center back Achraf Dari with the equalizer in the 9th minute. Croatia makes a mess of a free kick clearance and the defender heads the ball home from inside the six-yard box. Game on at Khalifa International Stadium. This is what a third-place game should be.
Croatia opens the scoring
Return to menuCroatia gets on the board early with a move from the training ground in the 7th minute. Ivan Perišić gets on the end of a chipped free kick from Luka Modrić, heading the ball across the box into the path of a diving Joško Gvardiol. The defender easily beats goalkeeper Yassine Bounou.
Return to menuReporter covering general and national sports GOAL: Moments after Croatia drew first blood, Achraf Dari headed the equalizer home in the ninth minute for Morocco. The match is tied 1-1.
Return to menuReporter covering general and national sports GOAL: Joško Gvardiol puts Croatia ahead in the seventh minute.
Return to menuReporter covering general and national sports We’re underway in this penultimate World Cup match, as Morocco and Croatia vie for third place.
Return to menuContributing soccer reporter Morocco, the underdog story of the 2022 World Cup, looks to finish in third place with a win against Croatia. Here’s the starting XI that will try to get it done.
Return to menuContributing soccer reporter A heavily rotated Croatia squad sees Marko Livaja, Lovro Majer, Mislav Oršić, Josip Stanišić, and Josip Šutalo all join the starting lineup for the third-place match against Morocco.
Morocco departs with a new global reputation
Return to menuKHOR, Qatar — One last boom of a cheer rained down upon a team around midnight in Al Bayt Stadium, that team cheered back toward its grateful fans, and it became another novel detail of this novel World Cup that it feted the team that had not won.
The exhilarating ride of Morocco, built on defense and passion and some of the toughest toughness, had detoured at last toward the fumes of the third-place game, itself a destination unforeseen.
“We’re on our last legs,” said Manager Walid Regragui, the charismatic 47-year-old who had moved from Wydad AC in Casablanca to the Moroccan national team only three months and two weeks prior.
Morocco mourned its loss to France in the semifinals
Return to menuCAIRO — Moroccans were devastated but still proud Wednesday after their national soccer team lost, 2-0, to France in the World Cup semifinals — dashing hopes for an upset that would have sent the first Arab and African club to the tournament’s final match.
A Moroccan win would also have been historic in a more profound sense. France controlled Morocco as a protectorate for more than four decades until the country’s independence in 1956. More recently, the countries were locked in a diplomatic dispute after France limited visas for Moroccans, leaving citizens of the North African country especially hungry for a triumph against their former colonizer.
This is an excerpt from a full story.
