Croatia clinched third spot at the 2022 FIFA World Cup after defeating African giants Morocco 2-1 at the Khalifa International Stadium on Saturday evening.
2022 FIFA World Cup
Result: Croatia 2-1 Morocco
Date: 17 December 2022
Venue: Khalifa International Stadium
Morocco coach Walid Regragui handed starts to Yahya Attiat-Allah and Abdelhamid Sabiri, while 18-year-old Bilal El Khannouss was given his first start at a major tournament.
The Croatians got off to the perfect start when a well-worked set-piece ended with Ivan Perisic knocked the ball into the path of Joško Gvardiol, who sent a powerful header past Yassine Bounou.
The Atlas Lions were not behind for too long as Achraf Dari levelled matters two minutes later by nodding home from close range after Croatia failed to deal with an in=-coming free-kick.
The game continued to be played at high tempo and Croatia nearly restored their lead on 24 minutes when Luka Modric cut onto his left foot to unleash a low strike, which Bounou palmed away before he denied Ivan Perisic on the rebound.
The Moroccans had a chance of their ten minutes later when Sofiane Boufal combined with Attiat-Allah on the edge of the box, but the former was thwarted in the box as he was about to shoot.
However, the Croatians got the second goal minutes before the break when Mislav Oršic found the back of the net with a superb first-time strike into the top corner.
With a flurry of changes on both sides, the tempo unsurprisingly slowed down despite the Moroccans looking to get back on level terms in their pursuit of the bronze medal.
The Atlas Lions had the perfect chance to pull level with 15 minutes left on the clock but goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic produced a superb save to deny Youssef En-Nesyri from point-blank range.
Croatia had a chance to make the game safe in the 87th minute as Mateo Kovacic did well to skip one challenge in the box, but he dragged his effort wide of the upright with only Bounou to beat.
Morocco had the opportunity to send the game to extra-time when En-Nesyri was picked out in the box, but the striker headed over the crossbar as Croatia held on to clinch the bronze medal.
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