Live match preview – Croatia vs Morocco 17.12.2022

Croatia head coach Zlatko Dalic is hopeful the World Cup third-place play-off will not be the last game at a major tournament for his captain Luka Modric.

Modric, 37, will not feature at the next World Cup and may not start Saturday’s bronze medal encounter against Morocco at Khalifa International Stadium.

But Dalic believes the Real Madrid midfielder may continue playing until Euro 2024 in Germany, even though it will purely be the decision of Modric himself.

“I hope that he will be with us,” he replied when asked about Modric’s chances of continuing his international career.

“I’m looking forward to that and I think it is quite certain that he will be but Luka Modric will decide personally as well how he feels.

“Knowing how he feels about football and the Croatia national team, I’m quite sure he will, but it is his decision only.”

Dalic revealed he is likely to make several changes for the game against Morocco as Croatia midfielder Mateo Kovacic admitted many players will be “exhausted” when they return to their club sides.

Despite Modric, Josko Gvardiol and Marcelo Brozovic all potentially being on the bench, Dalic was emphatic when asked what the match means to Croatia, who were beaten finalists at the World Cup four years ago.

“For us, this is a major final, a major match and a fight for a medal,” he said.

“We have a lot of respect for the Moroccan team, who achieved a lot at this tournament and are a true surprise.

“They are of the same mindset, it is a huge match for them as well, they are coming with a strong line-up and we are not thinking about what the rivals is saying because we are well aware they are fighting for the same place and for both it is a huge match.

“Morocco resembles us from four years ago, no-one expected them to go so far. They have deserved to be where they are, they have matured and developed and went to a higher level with every game. They have grown into a team that are full of energy and self-motivated.

“They are definitely the most pleasant and biggest surprise from this World Cup, speaking of teams who could have done better – Spain, Germany, Netherlands, England – Italy did not even qualify. This is a specific World Cup where a third-place play-off is played by two nations who were not favourites.”

Qatari referee Abdulrahman Al Jassim will take charge of the third-place play-off having also been in the middle for the Group B draw between Wales and the United States.

He will be joined by his Qatari assistants but Dalic criticised the decision to appoint a local official, adding: “To be honest, I think that FIFA has now taken a huge risk on itself.

“I’m not under-estimating anyone but I hope that we will not be talking about the referee after the match tomorrow.”

Regragui determined to win ‘booby-prize’ match

Morocco head coach Walid Regragui admits the World Cup third-place play-off is the “worst game” to play in but still wants his side to become the first African nation to medal in a finals.

Having beaten Belgium, Spain and Portugal to reach the semis, Morocco lost 2-0 to reigning champions France as their record-breaking run came to an end in Qatar.

They will now face Croatia to battle for the bronze medal, having already become the first African nation to reach a World Cup semi-final.

While Regragui said the match to winning the “booby prize”, he is keen to be successful.

“We would like things to have gone differently and played in the final but there is another game to play, we would like to be on the podium,” he said.

“We know that Croatia also want to finish in third place, we played them in our opening game so that will be nice.

“It will be no walk in the park physically, they have had one more rest day.

“We need to clear our heads a little but, when you come out of a semi-final, the first time we’ve ever been in one, emotions were running high and it was quite difficult. However, my players still have that appetite they want to finish well and they know they still have one game to play with all to play for.

“Finishing third is not the same as finishing fourth and we want to take a medal home with us.”

Regragui also backed the Moroccan Football Association’s official complaint to FIFA after they were not awarded a penalty during the semi-final, instead seeing Sofiane Boufal booked when he appeared to be fouled by Theo Hernandez.

“All is fair in love and war, our FA wanted to put forward the complaint, I feel they were right in doing so but that doesn’t change anything for us,” he said.

“We should have had a penalty and Sofiane should not have had that yellow card. It is not the end of the road for us, we are still playing for the third place, even the best nations would be playing for third place.

“After the game we will think about what the future has in store. We will have a completely different status following the World Cup.

“I don’t really need to motivate my team, we are at the World Cup representing Morocco.

“We even want to win friendlies so the objective is to get that third place, we want to up our FIFA ranking. If we finish third in a World Cup, we will really hike it up.

“We want to show what we are made of and also pave the way for the future of Moroccan football.”

Regragui confirmed skipper Romain Saiss will not be fit for the final, having risked his captain at just “60-70 per cent” in the semi-final, a decision which backfired when he limped off after just 20 minutes.

“We lost our captain Romain Saiss during the game, we took a risk but it was a risk worth taking,” added Regragui.

“We wanted to go out to battle with him leading the battalion. We have another couple of injured players but we will see how it goes.

“We really, really pushed our players to their limits but they still want to go out tomorrow and play again but we are going to be taking risk again. Romain Saiss is out – he has been ruled out from this third-place game.”

How World Cup enhanced Modric legacy

Sky Sports’ Adam Bate:

If this is the end for Luka Modric and the World Cup, it has been some romance. The talk around the final itself will be that this relationship is all or nothing – you win or you lose. Modric’s contribution shows that this is not true. We have the memories.

In 2018, Croatia returned from Russia as heroes following their improbable run to the final. If there is any less surprise at another seven-game stint in Qatar, it is testament to his ability to normalise the nation’s success. The old maestro has driven them on again.

Speaking to Andrej Kramaric before the World Cup, it was clear that Modric remains an inspiration to even the more experienced players within the Croatia squad. If there was any sign of thirst quenched or belief in a repeat of Russia waning, they had only to look to him.

“He has won everything in the Champions League and how he is playing at the moment at 37 years old, he is just the perfect example for us younger players that you want more, you want to be better and you want to win games,” Kramaric explained.

“Croatia are going to be like this at the World Cup.”

And so it proved. Some feared that age might curtail ambition, that this might be a team between generations. That journey to the World Cup final in 2018 had been life-changing in the way that 1998 had been nation-defining. Maybe it would be another twenty years.

But in hauling themselves through to the final four again, Croatia showed they were still hardened winners, scrambling results, coming back into matches that had appeared lost. Japan and Brazil had their hopes dashed before Lionel Messi bent the semi-final to his will.

Modric made his international debut in 2006, in the same game that Messi scored his first international goal. Four of his five Champions League wins came alongside – or perhaps that should be in service of – Cristiano Ronaldo. Those outsized icons left little room for others.

But Modric, eventually, has earned his place at the head of that next rank of heroes. His achievements in Russia in 2018 won him the World Cup’s Golden Ball and helped him to become the only other man to claim a Ballon d’Or in that decade.

Four years on, his legacy is enhanced, the appreciation now unanimous. Modric has added another Champions League win, while Messi and Ronaldo have not. He has carved out his own space and, as the end nears, those moments of quality are more cherished.

The outside-of-the-boot passes, the peripheral vision to pick out the runs of others, that ability to control rhythm and tempo, slowing games down and speeding them up. All of it was here. Modric has loved the World Cup. And the World Cup has loved him.

Croatia vs Morocco – Opta stats

• This is the second meeting between Croatia and Morocco at this World Cup, having played out a 0-0 draw on MD1. Croatia were restricted to five shots, their fewest ever in a World Cup match.
• None of the 19 previous third place play-off matches at the World Cup have gone to penalties, with only one being settled in extra time (France v Belgium in 1986). A European nation has won this match in each of the last 10 editions of the tournament, since Brazil’s 2-1 win over Italy in 1978.
• This is Croatia’s second third place play-off match in the World Cup, previously beating Netherlands 2-1 in the 1998 edition.
• Ivan Perisic has scored six World Cup goals for Croatia – one more would make him their outright top scorer in the competition, surpassing Davor Suker.