Croatia 2-1 Morocco (Gvardiol 7′, Orsic 42′ | Dari 9′)
Croatia have finished third in the World Cup after beating Morocco 2-1 in the penultimate match of Qatar 2022 as Luka Modric made almost certainly his final appearance at the tournament.
It was 1-1 after just nine minutes, with just 109 seconds separating Josko Gvardiol’s superb opener from Achraf Dari’s more conventional equaliser. Croatia restored their lead by half-time with Mislav Orsic, the scourge of Spurs in 2021, scoring a wonderful strike just before the break which proved to be the match-winner.
Critics of the third-place event, of which there are plenty, may argue that it is the most pointless fixture in football’s overflowing calendar. A box-ticking exercise rather than a sporting spectacle. Belgium’s 2-0 win over England four years ago was completely unremarkable other than the fact that Phil Jones played. When Andrej Kramaric trudged off the pitch in tears after tweaking a hamstring, it was easier to side with that viewpoint.
However, this clash offered compelling evidence that it is an occasion worth persisting with. Croatia and Morocco do not represent football’s established order. Croatia’s bench roared in delight when the masked wonder Gvardiol opened the scoring in spectacular fashion; Moroccan players indignantly surrounded the referee when Sofiane Boufal was denied an obvious corner. There was a flashpoint in the second half when Gvardiol was denied a blatant penalty at one end and Hakimi a decent shout at the other. Make no mistake, this mattered.
This was such a good set-piece!
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) December 17, 2022
Watch on @BBCOne, @BBCiPlayer and the BBC Sport app.#BBCWorldCup #BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/l9q7jCAHJC
Maybe it shouldn’t have been much of a surprise that elite sports stars wanted to win a match so soon after losing their last one. It was Modric’s last stand at the World Cup, after all, an opportunity for Ivan Perisic to overhaul Davor Suker as Croatia’s top tournament scorer, and the first time in the competition’s history that an African side had the chance to finish in third place. There may not have been a trophy at stake, but there was still history to be made.
Walid Regragui felt suitably relaxed to hand 18-year-old Bilal El Khannous his international debut from the start. If not now, then when? Others made their first appearances at the tournament, including QPR’s Ilias Chair and Burnley’s Anass Zaroury. They will not forget this night.
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Would Croatia have attempted the inventive set-piece routine from which Gvardiol scored a superb diving header to open the scoring in a World Cup final as opposed to a third-place match? Would Morocco have chucked as many players forward in search of an immediate response had the stakes been set higher? Would Orsic usually have backed himself to beat Bono from such an absurd angle?
Mislav Orsic only scores beautiful goals
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) December 17, 2022
Unreal.
Weird things can happen to elite footballers when their focus is in any way compromised. Bono, a pillar of concentration and competency between the goalposts throughout the finals, almost shanked an attempted pass into his own net in the opening two minutes. Modric misplaced a pass. Gvardiol should have earned a penalty after being tripped by Sofyan Amrabat following a lung-bursting gallop the length of the field. Achraf Hakimi channeled his inner Louis van Gaal by theatrically flopping to the floor after a decision went against him.
It was chaotic fun, although it threatened to spill over once or twice as the clock ticked towards 90. Selim Amallah was booked for overzealous protestations towards the referee as Morocco sought to wrestle back momentum. Poor as the officiating was, the protesting went a bit far. It carried on after the final whistle too, with Regragui acting as peacemaker.
World Cup 2022 final details
- Date: Sunday 18 December
- Kick-off: 3pm BST
- Venue: Lusail Stadium
- How to watch: Coverage will begin at 2pm on both BBC One and ITV
- Stream: BBC iPlayer or ITVX
Mateo Kovacic should have settled the contest but missed before Youssef En-Nesyri almost levelled with virtually the final touch. As the final whistle sounded, Croatia’s substitutes charged onto the pitch as if they’d won the main event, the result signifying their joint-second-best performance at the World Cup, matching the class of 1998. Only in 2018 did they go further.
It was a fitting send-off for Modric, the grandmaster of Croatian football. At 37, he is still pulling the strings for his country and Real Madrid, just as he was doing a decade ago. Even accounting for his timelessness, surely he cannot continue playing at this level by the time he is 41? If we’re lucky, he’ll keep on ticking on until Euro 2024, but by the time World Cup 2026 rolls around, Croatia’s midfield will be Modric-less. It won’t be the same without him.
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