Croatia has secured the third-place win in the FIFA World Cup tournament in Qatar on Saturday after beating Morocco 2-1.
This is the second World Cup in a row where Croatia has finished within the top three, having lost the 2018 tournament to France.
Croatia and Morocco got off to early goals – both within the first 10 minutes of Saturday’s match – but Croatia put themselves in the lead just before halftime when they hit the net for the second time. The second half did not however feature any goals.
Joško Gvardiol scored first for Croatia in the seventh minute, but Morocco’s Achraf Dari equalized with a header two minutes later, making the score 1-1. It was Croatia’s Mislav Oršić who hit the game-winner in the 42nd minute.
Both teams had good runs this year that included upsetting major tournament favorites.
Croatia’s biggest result this tournament was upsetting favorites Brazil – the No. 1 team in the world – in the quarterfinals.
Morocco, on the other hand, had a dream run at the World Cup, just missing out on the finals after losing to tournament heavyweight France.
But the football world’s attention will turn to Sunday’s World Cup final where Argentina and Lionel Messi will take on reigning champions France.
