World Cup: Croatia beat Morocco to finish third
Mislav Orsic scored in the 42nd minute to give Croatia a 2-1 lead for the second time. That goal proved decisive.
KATHMANDU: Croatia beat Morocco 2-1 in the third-place playoff on Saturday night at the Khalifa International Stadium in Al-Rayyan as the African side’s historic 2022 World Cup ended in defeat.
Mislav Orsic scored in the 42nd minute to give Croatia a 2-1 lead for the second time. That goal proved decisive.
Before that, Achraf Dari scored a goal for Morocco, who was trailing 1-0 in the seventh minute of the game, and brought the team to a 1-1 draw. He brought Morocco back into the game by scoring in the ninth minute of the game.
It took Croatia just seven minutes to open the scoring through a header from Joško Gvardiol before Achraf Dari equalized two minutes later.
Croatia failed to advance from the semi-finals in the previous edition, despite coming close to winning the World Cup after losing to France. Croatia was defeated 3-0 by Argentina in the semi-finals.
Morocco defeated Portugal in the quarter-finals to advance to the final four for the first time. However, after losing 2-0 to the previous champion France in the semi-finals, Morocco faced Croatia for third place.
