There is unlikely to be much controversy over claims that Brazil have outplayed Croatia and England outplayed France. And yet, woe to the losers, so our symbolic 1/4 squad consisted of the winners.
Doorman
Dominik Livakovic (Croatia)
After the extravagance against Japan in his homeland, he was called a saint. Now they have to assign the status of at least one demigod. Emiliano Martinez saved another penalty, Yassin Bunu once again played brilliantly. But Dominic, in addition to the first fundamentally important penalty rejection in the series by Rodrigo, worked before her. Ten saves to his credit. He included three one-on-one outings won and a strike cleared from close range in the 121st minute.
The saves on one-on-one matches were particularly impressive. Dominic showed incredible composure. He didn’t fall, he remained standing, he calmly waited until the opponent punched him. All these saves looked incredibly easy, and the goalkeeper’s confidence not to miss even in such a situation was unlimited.
Defenders
Nahuel Molina (Argentina)
In Spain he is criticized a lot, not understanding how Diego Simeone can bring a player so weak in defense to Atlético. But the coffin just opened. Molina made his career at Udinese as a right winger in formations with three central defenders. His national coach Lionel Scaloni suddenly switched to this in the match against the Netherlands. And he immediately paid dividends.
First of all, Nahuel tackled his immediate duties. His direct rivals on the wing Blind and Depay were ingloriously replaced long before the end of regular time. He also scored the first goal of the match, sneaking behind the defenders and rolling confidently and coolly into the corner. The goal he scored long set the pace of the match.
Javad El-Yamik (Morocco)
The loss of two star defenders – center Ager and left Mazraoui – could have been fatal for Morocco. For a team that relies almost exclusively on defense, they have possession just over 30% of the time and are batting constantly, breaking up defensive formations that are in danger of collapsing. Against Portugal he had even less ball possession – 27%. However, she survived.
Specifically, El-Yamik played alone in his own penalty area. And he didn’t let himself be taken aback even when Saiss left the field with an injury. It was after the captain’s departure that the assault on the Moroccans’ gates began, and Jawad’s leadership in opposing this in tandem with newcomer Dari cannot be overstated. The 193 cm tall defender excelled above all in broken crosses. Overall, he is unconditionally first afield in ten balls out.
Josko Guardiol (Croatia)
The Brazilians arranged one-on-one exits on the left side. Old Dejan Lovren was playing there and sometimes he didn’t have time. But there were practically no breakthroughs to their right. Guardiol ate everything. One of the discoveries in the defense of this tournament. If so you can call the discovery of the footballer “Leipzig”, for which even in the summer the giants offered tens of millions of euros. This tournament was supposed to be a breakthrough for the 20-year-old defender and he has been.
The main thing is that Yoshko showed incredible composure for his age in dealing with Brazilian dribblers. Forced to play in a mask due to a broken nose, he didn’t feel any discomfort, on the contrary, he instilled terror in his opponents. Seven balls out don’t tell even a small fraction of his impact on the game.
Yahya Attiat-Allah (Morocco)
One of only three players on the national team roster to play in the Moroccan league. Instead, he plays for “Vidad”, which Walid Regragi coached four months ago, so much so that the player’s abilities are well known to the national coach. It was extremely difficult to replace Mazraoui, but Yahya coped brilliantly. He finished second in bowling to El Yamik with four. All of his direct opponents – Dalot, Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes – failed the game.
Furthermore, it is safe to say that he has become Morocco’s most important offensive player. No one has fired more than three of his passes down the field. Including a canopy assist to goal on En-Nesiri and a long pass in the 95th minute, which brought Abukhlal one-on-one with the goalkeeper. Attiyat-Alla himself went to the goalkeeper at the end of the first half. He didn’t impress, but this outing is also in the piggy bank of his brilliant performance.
Midfielders
Antoine Griezmann (France)
He was the main character, the leader of the national team to the success of Euro 2016 and World Cup 2018. Now he is a shadow leader, but no less important. At Euro 2020, he was pushed into an even deeper shadow, turned into almost a second right-back, and then France failed. Now Didier Deschamps has realized his mistake and Antoine is playing in a key position, linking the center of the field with the attack. He does a job whose importance cannot be overstated.
Kylian Mbappe played badly for once. France’s center field as a whole lost to England. Griezmann himself never shot on goal, only once touching the ball in the opponent’s penalty area (and even then on the line). However, he can be considered one of the main winners of the match. He fought desperately defensively, worked hard and also became the first Frenchman since 1986 to score two assists in a Mundial play-off. His cross to Giroud won the match.
Luka Modric (Croatia)
There are no shadows or doubts about Luka’s role in his team, and there never has been. At 37 he remains a block of the national team and of all of world football, a fighter and an artist in one bottle. He survived the whole 120 minutes against Brazil, in the first 65 minutes under his leadership Croatia very successfully got out of the pressure, clearly kept the ball in the center of the field, and also won from passes in the attacking third of the field. And then he, together with everyone, desperately defended himself.
140 touches of the ball, 121 passes with 91% accuracy. Eight long balls, six of them accurate. 17 duels, most won, five fouls earned. However, Modric’s influence on the game cannot be explained by any number.
Marcelo Brozovic (Croatia)
Faithful squire Modric didn’t last the full 120 minutes, exiting the field in the 114th minute with an unsuccessful score for his side. However, his role in coming out of the pressure, working in the center of the field and then in a desperate defense cannot be ignored. Brozovic managed to score 135 touches and 110 assists. And four more picks, three interceptions, two KO balls and four blocks, 11 wins in 17 martial arts, six fouls earned.
Visually, it looked like Brazil’s lead in the game was large. But statistics show that Croatia also won in possession. There is no doubt that Modric and Brozovic played crucial roles in this.
Lionel Messi (Argentina)
Messi has never scored in the World Cup playoffs. Before the 2022 World Cup, where he scored twice in the playoffs. He came to this tournament with a mission. And he won’t give up on her. Of course, you can and should criticize him for his antics after the game of insulting opponents. But in the game, his importance was absolute. Penalty made and during the game, and the first in the series. And most importantly – just a brilliant assist Molina.
In that episode, Lionel made the hardest decision and executed it perfectly. By sending the ball into an area that he shouldn’t have seen at all.
We also add eight earned fouls, we note a total of six shots on target. And ten martial arts won on clay out of 14. It influenced the game in all aspects and in all areas of the field.
come on
Wut Weghorst (Netherlands)
The only underdog in the top 11 of our team. Yet he deserved it. The Dutch attack was missing as a class until he took the field. If the Dutch XG for the whole game was only 0.55, and someone scored twice for them, that someone deserves to be included in the group’s iconic team. In the 83rd minute he closed the crossbar with a classic header, and in the 11th minute, that is in the last seconds, he equalized the score. Implemented a post-match penalty.
His second goal will go to the Golden Fund of the World Cup. An unexpected short free-kick, a pass received, body coverage by a defender and a soft low shot – all this already seems like a classic. And interestingly, Wut scored exactly the same goal in Wolfsburg. So maybe it was his idea.
Olivier Giroud (France)
When the midfield loses the fight, the defense inflicts a penalty and Mbappe is well covered, the attacker has to drag. Olivier Giroud has retired. After Griezmann, he was the national team’s most important player in successful tournaments and was pushed deep into the reserve or not called up at all for unsuccessful ones. Now he has picked up the fallen banner of Karim Benzema and made him forget about him.
At the previous, victorious Mundial, Olivier did not score a single goal and was often ridiculed. Completely undeserved, because it worked perfectly. And here he is already working and scoring. Four shots on goal yesterday, four times more than his team’s closest pursuers. Of which two in two minutes. The first, in the fall, the goalkeeper dragged with difficulty. But the second, the head, no one is able to drag.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic calls himself the Benjamin Button of world football. That is, not getting older, but younger. However, Ibra’s 36-year-old Milan teammate fits that description better.
Replacement
Bunu (Morocco), Juranovic (Croatia), Saiss (Morocco), Acuña (Argentina), Amrabat (Morocco), Perisic (Croatia), En-Nesiri (Morocco), Saka (England), Petkovic (Croatia), Orsic (Croatia ) )
Head coach
Walid Regragui (Morocco)
You can criticize Morocco all you want for a dull defense, but they don’t argue with such an outcome. Also, in the first half, Regraga’s team did not engage in defensive defense at all. On the contrary, he outplayed his opponent in the center of the field, outwitted him beautifully, attacked, shot on goal more often than him. Only the constant loss of star players to injuries forced her into a defensive position. And then he gave the Portuguese almost no chance.
There is not a single reason for Regraga to apologise, to apologise, and there are many reasons to rejoice and deserve the title of best coach of the quarterfinals of the 2022 World Cup.
Photo – Getty Images, Dinamo Zagreb’s official Facebook page
