Croatia have defeated Morocco in the third-place match of the 2022 FIFA World Cup on Saturday evening in Qatar<\/p>\n
The defeat of the Atlas lion means Africa will further wait for it first medal at a World Cup. <\/p>\n
The North Africans made history by becoming the first African nation to reach the semifinals of a FIFA World Cup but were beaten 2-0 by France, while Croatia, who finished the first runners up in the 2018 World Cup in Russia, were defeated 3-0 by Argentina.<\/p>\n
It was the second time both teams would meet in this competition, following a goalless draw in their opening Group F game 24 days ago.<\/p>\n
In today\u2019s encounter, Jo\u0161ko Gvardiol put Croatia upfront with a powerful header in the 7th minute of the match but Morocco responded almost immediately through Achraf Dari\u2019s header barely two minutes later.<\/p>\n
Mislav Or\u0161\u00ed\u0107 brought Croatia back in the lead just with a beautiful curl that struck the post on its way into the net just a few minutes before the halftime break.<\/p>\n
Both sides tried to find the back of the net again in the second half of the third-place match but were sloppy in front of goal, with Youssef En-Nesyri bottling a clear chance to level the game for Morocco from a point blank range.<\/p>\n
Or\u0161\u00ed\u0107\u2019s goal secured the victory and the bronze medal for the Croatians, further extending the wait of Africa to record a medal at the finals of the FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the final of the 2022 FIFA World Cup will take place tomorrow at the Lusail Iconic Stadium, with defending Champions, France taking on reigning Copa America Champions, Argentina.<\/p>\n
Polish referee Szymon Marciniak has been appointed to charge of the final, a match expected to be graced by a performance from Afrobeats great, Davido.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Croatia have defeated Morocco in the third-place match of the 2022 FIFA World Cup on Saturday evening in Qatar The defeat of the Atlas lion means Africa will further wait for it first medal at a World Cup. The North Africans made history by becoming the first African nation to reach the semifinals of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":234874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"custom","single_blog_custom":"211693","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"single-left","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"floatbottom","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"0","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_override_bookmark_settings":{"override_bookmark_button":"0","override_show_bookmark_button":"0"},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[51372,7446,16949,147],"class_list":["post-235801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-croatia","tag-morocco","tag-qatar-2022","tag-world-cup"],"yoast_head":"\n