Though they may have fallen at the penultimate hurdle, both Croatia and Morocco have the chance to salvage a little extra reward for their impressive World Cup campaigns when they come head to head in Saturday’s third-place playoff game.
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Some fans tend to view the playoff with an air of contempt, forecasting a slightly underwhelming contest wherein two defeated, dejected semifinalists attempt to muster the motivation to go again in search of one last consolatory victory.
However, the truth of the matter is that the World Cup third-place playoff is historically a very high-scoring affair and even Golden Boots have been won through the years.
A third-place finish at the 2022 World Cup would also be a huge coup for Morocco, who have already come further in the tournament than any other African nation in history. Few predicted that the Atlas Lions would even make it through the group stage so a place on the podium would be the icing on the cake for Walid Regragui’s underdogs.
Furthermore, Saturday’s playoff may be the final World Cup match of Croatia captain Luka Modric‘s long and distinguished career, though his coach hopes he will play on until Euro 2024, and the 37-year-old midfielder will no doubt be hoping to add a bronze to the silver medal he won with his country after finishing runners-up at Russia 2018.
