Emirates News Agency – Croatian national team beats their Moroccan counterparts to crown bronze at World Cup

Doha, December 17, WAM / The Croatia national football team took third place at the 2022 World Cup, defeating their Moroccan counterparts 2-1 today, in the match that will determine the third and fourth places at the World Cup.

This is the second time that the Croatian team has won bronze at the World Cup after taking the same position in the 1998 edition in France, while their best finish in the tournament was in the last edition in 2018 in Russia.
Despite the defeat in today’s match, the Moroccan national team took fourth place, which is its best position in the history of its participation in the World Cup, noting that it has achieved an unprecedented result in the current version and has become the first Arab and African team to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup throughout the history of the tournament.
The Croatian national team ended the first half in their favor with two goals scored by Josko Gvardiol and Mislav Orsic in the 7th and 42nd minutes, against a goal scored by Ashraf Dari in the 9th minute, Dari’s first goal for the Morocco national team in matches international.
Jvardiol (20 years and 328 days) with his goal today became the youngest Croatian player to score a goal at a World Cup, ahead of Ivica Olic, who scored a goal for the team at the 2002 World Cup at the age of 22 years and 267 days.
The second half saw a few attempts by the Moroccan side to get back on scores, but they came to nothing, and the most notable of these was through Youssef Al-Nusairi in the 75th minute, but the Croatian goalkeeper countered them, then the the ball bounced off the post, so the match ended in victory for the Croatian team.