Croatia beat Morocco 2-1 to ensure third place finish in World Cup

DOHA: Croatia ensured a third place in the Qatar World Cup with a 2-1 win over Morocco in an entertaining match in the Khalifa International Stadium on Saturday.

Zlatko Dalic’s team were the better side and the win allows Croatia to repeat the third place they managed in France in 1998, reported Xinhua.

The game was 1-1 before it was 10 minutes old, with Josko Gvardiol putting Croatia ahead with a diving header from a well-worked free kick in the seventh minute and Achraf Dari equalising two minutes later when Hakim Ziyech’s in-swinging free kick, deflected off Modric to give the defender a free header.

Mislav Orsic put Croatia back in front at the end of an entertaining first period with a lovely curling shot after Morocco failed to clear their lines.

Croatia should have had a second half penalty after Gvardiol was clearly brought down in the Morocco area, but incredibly neither the referee nor the VAR saw the offense. - Bernama

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