Croatia beat Morocco 2-1, clinch 3rd place in FIFA World Cup 2022

Croatia beat Morocco on Saturday evening 2-1 to clinch 3rd place in the FIFA World Cup 2022 tournament.

Despite losing to Luka Modric’s Croatian side, Morocco — who became the first African and Arab team to reach the World Cup semifinals — still won the hearts of fans for their performance in the battle.

Croatia reached the final in Russia in 2018, but suffered a 3-0 loss to Argentina in the semi-final in this tournament.

Both teams scored within the first 10 minutes of the match in an extraordinary start but with halftime quick approaching, Croatia took the lead in the 42nd minute via a Mislav Orsiv curling shot from the left that went beyond Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou and in off the post.

Going into the match after losing their respective semifinals to Argentina and France, both Croatia and Morocco were on the offensive looking for a top three finish.

In an unfortunate incident, Andrej Kramaric, who had scored a brace for Croatia against Canada in the group stage was forced off the field following an injury in the second half.

The two teams had of course begun their tournament facing each other in Group F, sharing points in a 0-0 draw.