Today, in the match between the national teams of Argentina and Croatia, the first finalist of the World Cup in Qatar will be determined
At 22:00 in the city of Lusail, at the Lusail Ikonik stadium, the starting whistle of the first semi-final match of the World Cup, in which the national teams of Argentina and Croatia will meet, will sound. We invite you to follow the progress of the meeting with our online. Join now!
Before the match
Argentina
The Argentina national team for the sixth time in history made it to the semi-finals of the World Cup. The Blue-and-Whites have never been eliminated from this stage yet and regularly reached the decisive final match. The Argentines are two-time world champions and intend to compete for the coveted cup for the third time.
On the way to the semi-finals, the wards of Lionel Scaloni, not without difficulty, took first place in their group. After a sensational defeat in the starting round from the national team of Saudi Arabia (1-2), the South Americans won the next two matches against the national teams of Mexico (2-0) and Poland (2-0) with a dry score.
At the first stage of the playoffs, the Argentina national team was opposed by strong Australians, who left the Danes out of the playoffs. The Blue-and-Whites won a difficult 2-1 victory and reached the quarter-finals, where they were expected by the Netherlands national team.
The match with the Dutch turned out to be one of the brightest at the current World Cup. The Argentine national team confidently, it would seem, brought the matter to victory after Molina’s goal and Messi’s penalty, but then the replacement of Louis van Gaal worked. The Dutch coach released striker Wout Weghorst in the 78th minute, who saved the team from defeat in regular time by scoring twice in the 83rd and 101st minutes respectively.
Additional 30 minutes of the game did not bring goals and the teams began to identify the winner in the penalty shootout. Argentine goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez once again demonstrated his high class in repelling penalty kicks, repulsing penalties from Van Dijk and Berghuis. The wards of Lionel Scaloni won the shoot-out 4-3 and advanced to the semi-finals of the World Cup.
Croatia
For the Croatian national team, the upcoming semi-final will be the third in history and the second in a row after silver medals at the World Championships in Russia in 2018. “Checkers” solved the problem of leaving the group only in the final round, when they scored the necessary point in the match with the Belgian team (0:0). With five points, the Croats took the second position in the quartet F and, together with the Moroccan national team, made it to the playoffs.
Zlatko Dalić’s wards overcame both stages of the playoffs after victories in the penalty shoot-out. In the 1/8 finals, the Croatians knocked out the Japanese team (1:1, 3:1 on penalties), and in the quarterfinals they beat one of the favorites of the tournament – the Brazilian national team (1:1, 4:2 on penalties).
The denouement of the 1/4 final match against five-time world champions turned out to be dramatic. The Croatians again moved the meeting into extra time after a goalless draw, and at the end of the first extra-time, Neymar put Brazil ahead. Wards Zlatko Dalic saved themselves from defeat in the 116th minute of the meeting, thanks to a goal from striker Bruno Petkovic.
In the penalty shoot-out, Croatian goalkeeper Livakovic parried the ball after Rodrigo’s shot, and defender Marquinhos did not realize the decisive approach to the point, hitting the post. The Croatians won the penalty shoot-out 4-2 and reached the semi-finals of the World Cup for the second time in a row.
Personal meetings
The national teams of Argentina and Croatia met each other twice at the World Championships. At the 1998 World Cup in France, in the third round of the group stage, the Argentines beat the Croats with a minimum score (1: 0).
Four years ago, at the World Championship in Russia, the teams again crossed in the group, where the “checkers” scored a crushing victory over their opponent in the second round (3:0).
Direct speech
Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni:
“It will be a very difficult match, they show team football. Croatia has good players. We have our own style of play, although we must take into account how the opponent plays. If we do what we must, it will be easier for us to achieve our goal.
We did a deep analysis of the game of Croatia – it made life difficult for many teams. We tried to figure out which areas we can effectively attack.”
Croatia head coach Zlatko Dalic:
“We are in the top four teams in the world and that is a big success for Croatia. But we want more. We will play with a great team led by Lionel Messi. She’s under more pressure than we are. We know how Argentina is going to play.
I am an optimist and believe in players who have already shown both skill and character. We will not adapt to the opponent, we will play our own football in order to achieve the desired result. Argentina is strong, but a lot depends on us. We have to play as a team, as it was against Brazil.
