First-half goals from Josko Gvardiol and Mislav Orsic saw Croatia defeat Morocco 2-1 to secure third place at 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Gvardiol headed Croatia in front from a seventh minute free-kick, only for Achraf Dari to equalise just two minutes later in a competitive first-half.
Croatia regained the lead through a clinical 42nd minute strike from Orsic, which saw the 2018 runners-up finish third at a World Cup for the second time in their history – having first achieved that feat in 1998.
Morocco meanwhile has achieved their highest-ever finish at a World Cup despite ultimately settling for fourth place.
A fast-paced start saw Croatia – who had made five changes from their semi-final loss to Argentina – dominate Morocco’s defence, which forced goalkeeper – Yassine Bounou into a near own-goal as his sloppy side pass luckily rolled past his own net in the third minute.
Their pressure soon paid off as a seventh-minute free-kick found Ivan Persic who nodded the ball across for Gvardiol to head in from close-range.
Morocco though weren’t behind for too long as they ventured up the other end and won their own free-kick, from which Dari headed in to restore parity from Ziyech’s delivery.
Croatia though soon began to take control as Josip Stanisic and Mislav Orsic both saw chances denied, whilst Morocco’s next chance came in the 33rd minute as Sofiane Boufal played one-two move with Bilal El Khannous into the box but fired his shot over the bar.
Youssef En-Nesyri four minutes later missed a chance to put Morocco ahead as he headed Ziyech’s corner across goal from close-range, as he tried to direct his shot onto target.
Croatia punished En-Nesyri’s sloppy header just three minutes before half-time as Lovro Majer played one-two with Josip Stanisic but El Khannous intercepted a loose pass, only for Mateo Kovacic to swiftly intercept and teed up Orsic via Marko Livaja to curl in via a clinical strike off the right-post.
Morocco consequently headed into the break behind just for the second consecutive match at this World Cup, whilst Croatia led at half-time for just the second time in this tournament.
Just two minutes into the second half, Orsic almost snatched a brace but his shot was curled wide via El Yamiq’s deflection.
Livaja then flicked Luka Modric’s 51st minute cross wide of the top-right corner as Croatia began to flex their muscles, amidst injuries to various players which soon began to slow the tempo down to start-stop midway through the second-half.
Croatian substitute, Nikola Vlasic had the next brightest chance in the 71st minute but rifled his shot over the bar, having intercepted Sofyan Amrabat in the build-up.
Gvardiol then drew a foul three minutes later from Amrabat but Qatari referee – Abdulrahman Al-Jassim ruled that it wasn’t a penalty, much to the fury of Croatia manager, Zlatko Dalic.
Both teams thereafter proceeded to scrap hard as Morocco chased an equaliser to force extra-time at minimum, during which En-Neysri unluckily saw an injury-time header fly over the bar as Croatia clung on for only their second win of this World Cup and third place for the second time in their history.
Morocco meanwhile have set a new record as the highest-finishing African team at any World Cup, despite having lost this third-place play-off match.
Teams
Croatia: Dominik Livakovic, Josip Stanisic, Josip Sutalo, Josko Gvardiol, Mislav Orsic (Jakic 90+5), Lovro Majer (Pasalic 66′), Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic, Ivan Perisic, Marko Livaja (Petkovic 66′), Andrej Kramaric (Vlasic 61′)
Substitutes: Borna Barisic, Martin Erlic, Dejan Lovren, Marcelo Brozovic, Ivo Grbic, Nikola Vlasic, Mario Pasalic, Bruno Petkovic, Ante Budimir, Borna Sosa, Domagoj Vida, Josip Juranovic, Ivica Ivusic, Luka Sucic, Kristijan Jakic
Morocco: Yassine Bounou, Achraf Hakimi, Achraf Dari (Benoun 64′), Jawad El Yamiq (Amallah 67′), Yahia Attiyat-Allah, Abdelhamid Sabiri (Chair 45′), Sofyan Amrabat, Bilal El Khannous (Ounahi 56′), Hakim Ziyech, Youssef En-Nesyri, Sofiane Boufal (Zaroury 64′)
Substitutes: Nayef Aguerd, Romain Saiss, Azzedine Ounahi, Abderrazak Hamdallah, Anass Zaroury, Munir Mohamedi, Ilias Chair, Zakaria Aboukhlal, Selim Amallah, Abde Ezzalzouli, Walid Cheddira, Ahmed Reda Tagnaouti, Badr Benoun, Yahya Jabrane
Referee: Abdulrahman Al-Jassim (Qatar)
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