Modric's bronze-plated final bow on the World Cup stage
In the end, both Croatia and Morocco did what we have seen them do all tournament — fight to the bitter end. It didn't matter if this was the third-place match that perhaps they would have preferred to just sit out. That was the chatter leading into the match but once they stepped on the field, they just put their best foot forward.
When the final whistle blew, it was Croatia that had capped their tournament with a 2-1 win over Morocco at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha. It would not be a balm for their loss in the semi-final but it was something and it allowed the 37-year-old Luka Modric, playing in possibly his final World Cup, to go out on a high.
A runners-up finish in 2018 and a third-place finish in 2022 are exactly the kind of results that will push a nation of 40 lakh residents to continue giving their best on the football field.
Third-place matches can sometimes be boring but that thought went out of the window when Josko Gvardiol became Croatia's youngest scorer at the World Cup. His 7th minute header came at the end of a beautiful set-piece.
The free-kick was roughly 30 yards from goal and the left-footed Lovro Majer sent it over the wall and towards Perisic, who ran wide to the left and then flicked a superb header back across the face of the penalty area. Gvardiol charged towards the ball, dived and got the placement right to get it past Bono.
Their lead didn't last long though. Achraf Dari equalised quickly in the 9th minute through a header past Dominik Livakovic from five yards. It was his first international goal.
Both teams got stuck in after this but it was Mislav Orsic who restored Croatia’s lead in the 42nd minute. Some loose defending saw the ball end up with Mateo Kovacic on the edge of the D. He gave it to Marko Livaja, who then flicked it to Orsic.
His exquisite first-time shot across goal with his right foot beat the flying Bono, hit the inside of the far post and rebounded into the net. The score, despite some very heated moments, stayed that way right till the end.
Morocco came close to equalising late in injury time when a header from Youssef En-Nesyri went just wide. It was a great effort and just what we had come to expect from the Atlas Lions. Victory though was not theirs to be. That honour, on a night when everyone will be thinking about the France vs Argentina final, belonged to Croatia.
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