World Cup 2022: Can Croatia Cut Messi’s Mission Short in Semis?

Argentina vs Croatia

Lionel Messi and Argentina are on the cusp of reaching the World Cup 2022 final. Messi has been magnificent throughout the entire tournament as he has once again carried this Argentine team on his back.

But can Messi keep his magical run going against Croatia, who spoilt the dream South American semi-final matchup by beating the Brazilians on penalties?

Luka Modric and co. smashed Argentina 3-0 in their group meeting back in 2018, and they will be out to defy the World Cup 2022 odds once again.

Talking Points

Messi’s magical World Cup run continues

There are simply no words left for the brilliance of Lionel Messi. At age 35, Messi is once again on the cusp of almost single-handedly lifting Argentina to another World Cup final.

Messi had a hand in both of Argentina’s goals against the Netherlands as he scored one and set up another with a sublime assist. He also scored his penalty in the shootout, which the Argentines won 4-3.

Messi’s tally in this tournament is now up to four goals and two assists. For context, Messi had four goals and one assist in the 2014 World Cup, where he led Argentina to the final and won the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player.

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni switched his formation to a 3-5-2 against the Netherlands to try and negate the Dutch threat. But they were overly defensive in the second half, which saw them surrender their two-goal lead.

Scaloni is likely to return to his more favoured 4-3-3 formation against Croatia, who play an identical formation. Angel Di Maria, who missed the Australia match due to injury, played the last eight minutes of extra time against the Netherlands and could be ready to return to the starting lineup.

Meanwhile, full-backs Gonzalo Montiel and Marcos Acuna are both suspended, so Nahuel Molina and Nicolas Tagliafico are slated to start.

Croatia on the cusp of another final

Croatia are closing in on their second consecutive surprise trip to the World Cup final. They brought down mighty Brazil on penalties in the quarter-finals to seal their place in the semis.

Incredibly, the Croatians are copying their winning formula from 2018, which is to take the match to extra time and penalties. Of their last six World Cup knockout matches, five have gone to extra time – the only exception is their 4-2 loss to France in the final – and four have gone to penalties, all four of which they’ve won.

Goalkeeper Dominik Livoakovic has been the big hero in this Croatian run. He’s provided plenty of World Cup 2022 highlights with huge saves, both in the matches and in the shootouts.

As impressive as Croatia’s second straight semi-final run has been, though, it remains to be seen whether fatigue will finally play a factor this time around, especially with Modric now 37 years of age.

But Croatia’s tactics of possessing the ball as much as possible worked reasonably well against Brazil, although they were slightly fortunate Brazil failed to finish their chances. Nevertheless, they are unlikely to change against Argentina, who struggled to create too many chances despite going 2-0 up against the Dutch.

Aside from centre-forward, with Bruno Petkovic potentially coming in for Andrej Kramaric, Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic is unlikely to make any changes to his starting lineup, which has played so well thus far.

History

Croatia and Argentina have met five times before and twice in the World Cup. Both teams have won twice and drawn once in their five meetings, and they have won one game apiece in the World Cup.

Argentina won their first World Cup matchup in 1998. But the Croatians got their revenge by smashing the Argentines 3-0. Ante Rebic, Luka Modric, and Ivan Rakitic got the goals.

Betting Tip 

SBOTOP odds have Argentina installed as 1.83 favourites to win their semi-final against Croatia, who are priced at 4.30 to pull off the upset. A draw is 3.45.

Given Croatia’s recent World Cup history, it’s hard not to think that another closely contested knockout match is on the cards. They are so tough to break down and are so mentally resilient.

And with Argentina having their own issues, there’s a decent chance this match will once again remain tied after 90 minutes.

 

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