Croatia v Morocco: Playoff for third place of the 2022 World Cup – live | world cup 2022
“,”elementId”:”8d036ac3-8c1e-4776-abc5-88d24734d47b”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Croatia (possible 4-3-3) Livakovic; Stanisic, Sutalo, Gvardiol, Perisic; Majer, Modric, Kovacic; Orsic, Kramaric, Livaja.
Substitutes: Grbic, Ivusic, Barisic, Erlic, Lovren, Brozovic, Vlasic, Pasalic, Petkovic, Budimir, Sosa, Vida, Juranovic, Sucic, Jakic.
“,”elementId”:”31e5cb5f-3f8b-49eb-84be-ba02b681ee79″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Morocco (possible 4-3-3) Bono; Hakimi, Dari, El Yamiq, Attiat-Allah; Sabiri, Amrabat, El Khannouss; Ziyech, En-Nesyri, Boufal.
Substitutes: Aguerd, Saiss, Ounahi, Hamdallah, Zaroury, Chair, El Kajoui, Aboukhlal, Amallah, Ezzalzouli, Cheddira, Tagnaouti, Benoun, Jabrane.
“,”elementId”:”50bb1742-3268-4b63-b7b3-b4ee73e52156″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Referee Abdulrahman Al-Jassim (Qatar)
“,”elementId”:”eb878ffd-c4f7-489c-ba44-d7f6444d70ca”}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1671285788000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”09.03 EST”,”blockLastUpdated”:1671288722000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”09.52 EST”,”blockFirstPublished”:1671285844000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”09.04 EST”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”09.04″,”title”:”Team news”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Sat 17 Dec 2022 10.01 EST”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Sat 17 Dec 2022 08.30 EST”},{“id”:”639d0ba88f0816e812ef18a1″,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the third-place playoff between Croatia and Morocco. To some, this is the most pointless game in world football; to others, it’s an essential part of the rhythm of the World Cup’s final week, a gentle little palate cleanser before the final.
“,”elementId”:”10eb6562-4cfe-49de-90d3-617054344af5″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
On this occasion, it’ll also be a celebration of the underdogs who have enriched Qatar 2022. Croatia and Morocco drew 0-0 in their opening game, managing only four shots on target between them; had you said, at the final whistle, that they would meet again in the bronze-medal match, you’d have been laughed out of the alehouse.
“,”elementId”:”56e40c42-8e6b-4af7-92fb-4afc3a7063f5″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
On reflection, Croatia’s might have been the greater achievement. At times they have looked like a 2018 tribute act, minus a frontman, and it was a miracle of resilience that they lasted as long as they did. For a county of four million people to reach a final and a semi-final in successive World Cups is arguably – pound for pound, or rather person for person – the greatest achievement since Uruguay won it in 1950.
“,”elementId”:”fb9e77e6-7d86-427d-8225-26f355261854″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Morocco, by contrast, looked like they still had plenty in the tank (the fit players, anyway) in their stirring defeat to France on Wednesday. It’s no exaggeration to say they have given us one of the great World Cup stories. This is a chance to celebrate them, and Croatia, and the greatest World Cup ever (sic), and anything else you fancy toasting on a Saturday afternoon.
“,”elementId”:”24348f16-ca35-4d26-8101-fd2d05ee3890″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Kick off 3pm GMT, 4pm in Zagreb and Rabat, 6pm in Ar-Rayyan.
“,”elementId”:”3b2d21e7-dd63-4d4c-855e-81cdc38f291e”}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1671283821000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”08.30 EST”,”blockLastUpdated”:1671281635000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”07.53 EST”,”blockFirstPublished”:1671283821000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”08.30 EST”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”08.30″,”title”:”Preamble”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Sat 17 Dec 2022 10.01 EST”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Sat 17 Dec 2022 08.30 EST”}],”filterKeyEvents”:false,”format”:{“display”:0,”theme”:2,”design”:10},”id”:”key-events-carousel-mobile”}”>
key events
1 minute Peep! Croatia start the game.
Good news for UK viewers. This guy is right up there with the best; it might even be the best.
My 7th World Cup ending at Khalifa today with the 3rd place game. Never been to 19 games in 1 WC before. As a tournament it was better than expected – though nobody would agree with it being the best. Eg: never seen so few fans at a WC. (1/2)
— Steve Wilson (@Wilsonfooty) December 17, 2022
\n”,”url”:”https://twitter.com/Wilsonfooty/status/1604039865284415488?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet”,”id”:”1604039865284415488″,”hasMedia”:false,”role”:”inline”,”isThirdPartyTracking”:false,”source”:”Twitter”,”elementId”:”be1ed54f-e1bb-46ac-8720-fa474b246b5f”}}”>
My seventh World Cup ends today in Khalifa with the match for third place. He had never been to 19 games in 1 WC before. As a tournament it was better than expected, although no one would agree that it was the best. For example: I have never seen so few fans in a WC. (1/2)
—Steve Wilson (@Wilsonfooty) December 17, 2022
Here come the players. I was going to say that it will be difficult to get up for this game, but I think we all know that Sofyan Amrabat will win 40/60 balls from the opening whistle.
here is a question for you, and no cheating. According to the very detailed data of WhoScored.com, who has been the best player in the World Cup? He (have I said too much) has a tournament rating of 8.15, 0.01 ahead of old Lionel.
“Unless I’m hallucinating (perfectly possible), weren’t you alone in the OBO in Karachi? writes Saurya Chakraborty. “Is it possible (and can we request it) for you to do the whole OBO for Australia/South Africa, pick up the Karachi OBO after lunch and then do the final tomorrow? I would love for you to be seriously discussing the magic of Messi’s mystery turn in Brisbane by the end.”
I can promise you that I wrote worse at 4am during a 2009-10 tour of Bangladesh.
bbc has Croatia playing a back three, with Orsic and Perisic as full-backs. Do we care about tactics in a third-place playoff?
“Thank you for your coverage…” says Jeff Sachs. “We must never forget the worker deaths that made this competition possible.”
I suspect that even if Lionel Messi scores 12 goals tomorrow, it will still be the first thing many people will remember about Qatar 2022. And while we’re here, thanks to everyone who emailed and tweeted to our writers during the tournament. .
“Although I have lived in the UK for many years, I am from Kannur, a small town in the north of Kerala,” writes Ramesh Nair. “It was wonderful to see Kerala’s love of football mentioned in The Guardian, although I wouldn’t lump it in the same bag as the rest of India. Whether it’s politics, sports, development rates, eating habits (we eat a lot of beef) or our unfortunate weakness for excessive amounts of hard liquor, Kerala is very different from the rest of India. And that also extends to its rich and entrenched international football fan culture, with perhaps the exception of West Bengal.
“It’s a football crazy state (especially the northern half) and has long had massive fan associations for (mainly) Brazil and Argentina, but also other teams including most recently England! The biggest football-related event in Kannur was Maradona’s visit to Kannur in autumn 2012. It remains one of only two places Maradona has visited in India and over 50,000 fans turned up to see him in Kannur that day. Kerala even observed a two-day official mourning period when Maradona died. He was and is a legend around these parts.
“Harry Maguire, your defense is terrifying”
rate it, rate it
So how do we rate this? World Cup at the level of football spectacle? wonders Ben Kybett. “Good, but not excellent? The climax of the group stage was exciting, the quarterfinals provided great emotions and spillovers, and Morocco have been wonderful.
“Hopefully we have an exciting final between two tough and talented teams. But perhaps too many one-sided and/or monotonous draws? No high scoring classics or heavyweight epics? A few 0-0 early in the morning in the group stage didn’t help either. For me, last year’s Euro, despite all the oddities it involved, is probably the best tournament of my life. But then, I’m almost 20 years old, so what do I know?
Yeah, I’d say he’s been somewhere between decent and good, out in the field. There’s an argument that it’s the best World Cup since 1998, but anything beyond that is reach in my opinion. Its main virtues have been great drama, moments and, above all, anecdotes, but current football has been nothing more than mediocre and has not had a great game or a great team.
All that said, it’s pretty hard to judge a World Cup until you’ve got a bit of a distance, six months or so. But I’m sure not everyone agrees, and neither should they.
team news
As expected, both coaches have made number changes: five for Croatia, three for Morocco. Luka Modric stays in the team, which will almost certainly (I said almost) be the last World Cup play. Some of Morocco’s injured players are among the substitutes, including captain Romain Saiss. His starting XI includes no-holds-barred teenager Bilal El Khannouss.
Croatia (possible 4-3-3) Livakovic; Stanisic, Sutalo, Guardiol, Perisic; Majer, Modric, Kovacic; Orsic, Kramaric, Livaja.
Substitutes: Grbic, Ivusic, Barisic, Erlic, Lovren, Brozovic, Vlasic, Pasalic, Petkovic, Budimir, Sosa, Vida, Juranovic, Sucic, Jakic.
Morocco (possible 4-3-3) bond; Hakimi, Dari, El Jamiq, Attiat-Allah; Sabiri, Amrabat, El Khannouss; Ziyech, En-Nesyri, Boufal.
Substitutes: Aguerd, Saiss, Ounahi, Hamdallah, Zaroury, Chair, El Kajoui, Aboukhlal, Amallah, Ezzalzouli, Cheddira, Tagnaouti, Benoun, Jabrane.
Referee Abdulrahman Al Jassim (Qatar)
Croatia have fond memories of the third-place playoff. In 1998 they beat the Netherlands 2-1; more importantly, Davor Suker scored his sixth goal of the tournament, giving him the Golden Boot ahead of Gabriel Batistuta and Christian Vieri. He also looks out for a, ahem, unique Bolo Zenden celebration.
wait come back
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the match for third place between Croatia and Morocco. For some, this is the most useless game in world football; for others, it’s an essential part of the rhythm of the final week of the World Cup, a mild little palate cleanser before the final.
On this occasion, it will also be a celebration of the underdogs who have made Qatar 2022 rich. Croatia and Morocco drew 0-0 in their opener, managing just four shots on goal between them; if you had said, at the final whistle, that they would meet again in the bronze medal game, you would have been laughed at by the brewery.
Thinking about it, the one in Croatia could have been the greatest achievement. At times they seemed like a 2018 tribute act, without a leader, and it was a miracle of resilience that they lasted this long. For a country of four million people, reaching a final and a semifinal in successive World Cups is possibly, pound for pound, or rather person for person, the greatest achievement since Uruguay won it in 1950.
Morocco, by contrast, looked like they still had a lot left in the tank (the in-form players, anyway) in their emotional loss to France on Wednesday. It is no exaggeration to say that they have given us one of the great stories of the World Cup. This is an opportunity to celebrate them, Croatia, the best World Cup in history (sic) and whatever else you feel like toasting on a Saturday afternoon.
Kick off 15:00 GMT, 16:00 in Zagreb and Rabat, 18:00 in Ar-Rayyan.