Tuesday at 2 p.m. ET from Lusail Stadium, the World Cup semifinal match between Argentina and Croatia will take place. Besides the fact that it’s the World Cup, both teams have additional motivation to go to the final.
When France defeated Croatia in the 2018 World Cup final, Croatia finished in second place. For the final time, Argentina is utilising superstar Lionel Messi, who has never claimed a championship. Only Germany has a better record than Argentina’s five trips to the World Cup final (eight times). At the semifinal stage, the Albiceleste have never lost.
Messi vs Modric
The two greatest World Cup football players ever, Lionel Messi and Luka Modric, will square off against one another as the captains of their respective squads in a battle to get to the championship game.
No other player has ever recorded both a goal and an assist in four different World Cup games like Messi has done.
His assist to Nahuel Molina in their quarterfinal triumph against the Netherlands was a thing of beauty. He has scored four goals in five games.
“Mesi is an animal,” said an Argentina fan after their defeat over the Netherlands in the quarterfinals. “He is like wine, the year go by and he plays better. They can’t get it off him because the ball is tied to his feet.”
Argentina last made it to the World Cup final in 2014, where they fell to Germany 1-0 in Brazil. After the competition, Messi, who is retiring from international football, will have one final opportunity to win the title. Soccer teams are, of all, simply that—teams. Even still, without Messi, this Argentina team would be extremely different, and I highly doubt they would be where they are now.
“We don’t have a specific plan, at least not yet, for stopping Messi,” said Petkovic. “And usually we don’t concentrate on stopping one player, but the whole team. And the way we approach that is that we need to stop them as a team, not by man-marking or some kind of similar tactic.”
Argentina came into the World Cup as one of the favorites. But so did Brazil, and Croatia eliminated them. Croatia, led by their own superstar Luka Modric, stunned Brazil in the quarterfinals. They were down by a goal in extra time, but fought hard to come back when Bruno Petkovic scored the equalizer to force a penalty shootout, which they won. Croatia have won all four of their penalty shootouts at the World Cup, including two at this tournament. Only Argentina have won more with five.
“I think there are many people who are not even professional soccer players who can take a penalty kick. The difference is how mentally tough you can be at those moments because it’s huge pressure,” said Petkovic. “Sometimes it’s pressure that you’ve never experienced before. Of course, it’s easier if you have a top-class goalkeeper who can save a penalty and give the whole team confidence.”
Luka Modric has made the most World Cup appearances (17) and most appearances at major tournaments (30) for Croatia.
Messi and Modric history
This will be the sixth time that Argentina and Croatia will play each other, having previously played three friendlies and two World Cup games. The first was an international friendly in 2006 which Croatia won 3-2, despite a Messi goal in the first 10 minutes.
The last time they met was in the 2018 World Cup in Russia, when Croatia beat them 3-0 in the group stage, including a goal by Modric. Croatia went on to the finals and lost to France while Argentina lost 4-3 in the Round of 16 to the eventual champions, France.
Now they face each other in the 2022 World Cup semifinals in Qatar where the pressure is on for both of these captains to lead their team to the final.
