Argentina vs Croatia: Lionel Messi and Argentina have accomplished this once more. The South American superpower defeated Croatia 3-0 to get to the World Cup final. Detail of Argentina vs Croatia: Argentina defeats Croatia to qualify for the World Cup final is given below
Argentina vs Croatia: Argentina defeats Croatia to qualify for the World Cup final
Argentina had participated in a World Cup semifinal for the seventh time (defeating the USA in 1930, Belgium in 1986, Italy in 1990 and the Netherlands in 2014). Additionally, it has reached the final six times. Argentina last claimed the World Cup in 1986.
Both Argentina and Croatia started the game cautiously in an effort to avoid making a mistake. But after a half-hour, Argentina took charge and never looked back.
Dominik Livakovi, a goalie for Croatia, collided with Julián Lvarez in the 32nd minute, bringing about a penalty kick. Then Argentina’s great player Lionel Messi grabbed the initiative and proceeded to act as he always does. He calmly and composedly shot the ball high and to the right, giving his team a 1-0 lead.
Lvarez had not finished. He led a counterattack in the 39th minute and dribbled all the way from midfield, racing through three Croatian defenders before lofting the ball past Livakovi to put Argentina ahead 2-0 at the break.
In goal, Livakovi had excelled during the competition.
However, a relentless Argentina onslaught and a few defensive mistakes by Croatia proved to be too much.
Against Croatia, Messi and lvarez had one more brilliant moment as a team. In the 69th minute, Messi demonstrated superb ball control to beat Croatian goalkeeper Joko Gvardiol on the right side of the net.
Then Messi found Alvarez, who added a goal to make it 3-0. Only two of Croatia’s twelve shots on goal were successful.
Argentina has lost just one of their previous 41 international games coming into this match (28 wins, 12 draws). Croatia, who finished second in the 2018 tournament, had only dropped one of their previous 12 World Cup games.
Messi moved slightly ahead of Kylian Mbappé of France (five goals and two assists) for the lead in the Golden Boot competition with his fifth goal of the tournament (and third assist).
In the championship game, Messi plans to smash another record. In terms of overall FIFA appearances, he now has 25 World Cup games under his belt and is tied with Lothar Matthäus.
The winner of Wednesday’s semifinal between France and Morocco will face Argentina on Sunday. Croatia’s World Cup competition is still going on. It will play in the third-place game on Saturday against the loser of tomorrow’s semifinal.
Argentina vs Croatia, Messi needs one more victory to win the World Cup.
The captain of Argentina is one victory away from hoisting the World Cup trophy and establishing himself as the greatest player to ever take the field. On December 18, Messi will finally be able to claim the one title that has eluded him and separates him from so many of the greats who have come before him.
He appeared to have pulled his hamstring early on in the match against Croatia, but all concerns were dispelled when he masterminded his team’s victory, first with a penalty smashed high into the right corner and then with a stunning, signature run against one of the best defenders in the competition, Josko Gvardiol, to set up Julian Alvarez for his second goal of the evening.
He also set records in the process, becoming the oldest player to score five goals in a single World Cup and Argentina’s leading scorer. We are all fortunate to have seen Messi’s final dance. Maradona will forever be compared to for his miraculous left foot, divine intervention, and wacky runs.
These analogies will be hard to refute if Messi can win the World Cup.
In Qatar, Messi is giving lesson after masterclass while Argentina supporters everywhere rejoice that their team is getting closer to victory.
