Defending runners-up Croatia secured the third position in FIFA World CUP 2022. After losing to Argentina in the semifinal, Croatia had to face Morocco in the third-place playoff. In this engaging match, the Croatians had beaten the African team by 2-1. Morocco, which has been phenomenal in the tournament, remained in the top fourth position of the tournament.
Croatia took an early lead in the match as Josko Gvardiol scored a goal right in the seventh minute. Morocco gave a befitting answer by scoring a goal in the next two minutes. Achraf Dari scored a goal through a free kick and equalled the score with Croatia.
After such a fantastic start, the game slowed down a bit in the middle of the first half. In the 42nd minute, Mislav Orsic scored a goal and put his team Croatia in a dominant position with a score of 2-1. The first half ended with the same score.
Even in the second half, Croatia dominated the game and didn’t allow Morocco to get many chances. As a result, there were no goals scored in the latter half and the game ended with a score of 2-1. This is the third top-three finish for Croatia. They were in the third position in 1998, runners up in 2018 and secured the third position once again in 2022.