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22 min Sorry, I’ve been sifting through emails. You didn’t miss anything, unless I missed it, in which case we all did.
18 min Orsic has a shot blocked by his own teammate Kramaric, who then heads straight at Bono. Croatia, so toothless for much of the tournament, seem to be enjoying themselves today.
15 min Goal scorer Dari stretches desperately to stop Livaja’s cross that reaches Kramaric in front of goal. Excellent defense. Both teams look good for this.
13 min And here’s the draw.
11 min I’ve never seen a free kick routine like this. It’s still only the second-best free-throw free throw in the tournament, mind you.
Updated at 15.13 GMT
10 min Orsic cuts in from the left and scores wide of the far post.
Achraf Dari equalized straight away. Ziyech’s free-kick was flicked inadvertently into his own goal by Modric’s head, and Dari reacted quicker to head past Livakovic from five yards. It is his first international goal.
Morocco’s Achraf Dari heads in the equaliser. Picture: Molly Darlington/ReutersDari celebrates after breaking her international duck. Photograph: Lee Smith/Reuters
Updated at 3.18pm GMT
GOAL! Croatia – Morocco 1-1 (Dari 9)
Now that’s what I’m talking about.
The free kick was 30 meters from the goal in the inside left channel. Perisic curled over the wall, which ran away from the goal to meet him and then unleashed a superb header into the face of the box. Guardiol loaded the ball, 12 yards out, and lobbed a spectacular header at Bono.
Flying Josko Gvardiol (third left) heads Croatia in spectacular style. Photograph: Pavel Golovkin/AP
Updated at 15:14 GMT
ONE OF THE GOALS OF THE TOURNAMENT! Croatia – Morocco 1-0 (Gvardiol 7)
It’s an incredibly good free kick from Croatia.
Updated at 15.11 GMT
6 min “Rob, it’s been a pleasure,” says Aaron Roston. “This will almost certainly also be my last World Cup, at least in this capacity, as I plan to attend the 2026 one. As this is the consolation game, is this your consolation MBM? I think the biggest advantage of this World Cup is the fact that worker deaths and half-empty stadiums will put the kibosh on Saudi Arabia’s bid.”
I would like to share your confidence in this! And yes, this is my last MBM of the tournament, unless, say, a horrible accident befalls the great Scott Murray in the next 24 hours.
5 min It’s been a good start, especially from the Morocco fans, who boo every time Croatia get the ball.
3 min Bono almost scores one of the great own goals! He clipped a routine pass into the penalty area, and the ball went just wide of the far post for a Croatia corner.
2 min “Like many Europeans, I don’t know much about the history of Moroccan football, so I watched sections of the matches they played in the 1986 World Cup,” begins Kári Tulinius. “What surprised me is how they play in a remarkably modern style. Instead of the blood-and-grind football I associate with the 80s, they played a patient possession game, reminiscent less of other teams from that era than of Spain in 2010. It’s a shame they lost in the round of 16 at the last minute goal against West Germany, because it would have been interesting how other teams would have been influenced by them. Instead, it took decades before the rest of the world came to Morocco.”
They played brilliantly in the win over Portugal and, from memory, were pretty much even in West Germany. Who was the class act in midfield, Aziz Bouderbala?
1 min Peep Peep! Croatia kicks off the game.
Good news for UK viewers. This guy is up there with the best; it may even be the best.
My 7th World Cup ends today in Khalifa with the 3rd place match. He had never been to 19 games in 1 WC before. As a tournament it was better than expected, although no one would agree that it was the best. For example: never seen so few fans in a WC. (1/2)
— Steve Wilson (@Wilsonfooty) December 17, 2022
Here come the players. I was going to say that it will be difficult to get up for this game, but I think we all know that Sofyan Amrabat will win 40/60 balls from the first whistle.
Luka Modric of Croatia leads his team ahead of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 third place match between Croatia and Morocco. Photograph: Shaun Botterill/Fifa/Getty Images
Updated at 15.08 GMT
Here’s a question for you, no cheating. According to WhoScored.com’s highly detailed data, who has been the best player at the World Cup? He (I’ve said too much) has a tournament rating of 8.15, 0.01 ahead of old Lionel.
“Unless I’m hallucinating (perfectly possible), weren’t you just at the OBO in Karachi?” writes Saurya Chakraborty. “Is it possible (and can we ask) that you do the whole OBO for Australia/South Africa, do the Karachi OBO after lunch and then do the final tomorrow? I’d love it if you were finally having a serious discussion about the magic of Messi’s Brisbane spin mystery.”
I can promise you I’ve written worse at 4am during a 2009-10 tour of Bangladesh.
The BBC has Croatia playing as a three, with Orsic and Perisic at full-back. Do we care about tactics in a playoff for third place?
“Thank you for your coverage…” says Jeff Sachs. “The deaths of the workers who made this competition possible should never be forgotten.”
I suspect that even if Lionel Messi scores 12 goals tomorrow, it will still be the first thing many people remember about Qatar 2022. And while we’re at it, thanks to everyone who emailed and tweeted our writers throughout the tournament. .
“Although I have lived in the UK for many years, I am from Kannur, a small town in northern Kerala,” writes Ramesh Nair. “It was lovely to see Kerala’s love of football mentioned in the Guardian, although I wouldn’t put it together with the rest of India. Be it politics, sports, development rates, food habits (we eat a lot beef) or our unfortunate weakness for excessive amounts of alcoholic beverages, Kerala is very different from the rest of India. And this extends to its rich and long-standing international football fan culture, with perhaps the exception of West Bengal.
“It’s a football-mad state (especially the northern half) and has long had large fan associations for (mainly) Brazil and Argentina, but also other teams, including, more recently, England! The most eventful major football related event in Kannur was Maradona visiting Kannur in autumn 2012. It remains one of only two places Maradona has visited in India and more than 50,000 fans came to see him in Kannur that day .Kerala even observed a two-day official mourning period when Maradona died.He was and is a legend in these parts.
“Harry Maguire, your defense is terrible”
Rate it, rate it
“So how do we rate this World Cup in terms of the football spectacle?” asks Ben Kybett. “Good, but not great? The climax of the group stage was thrilling, the quarter-finals provided great thrills and spills, and Morocco have been wonderful.
“We hope to have an exciting final between two tough and talented teams. But maybe a few too many one-sided and/or weird ties? No high-scoring ding-dong classics or heavyweight epics? A few early 0-0 draws in the group stage didn’t help either. For me, last year’s Euros, despite all the weirdness it entailed, is probably the best tournament of my life. But then, I’m in my twenties, so what do I know?”
Yes, I would say it has been between decent and good, on the field that is. There’s an argument to be made that it’s the best World Cup since 1998, but anything beyond that is a reach in my opinion. Its main virtues have been the great drama, the moments and above all the stories, but the actual football has not been better than average and it has not had a great game or a great team.
All that being said, it’s pretty hard to judge a World Cup until you’ve had some time away from it, six months or so. But I’m sure not everyone agrees, nor should they.
Updated at 14.12 GMT
Team news
As expected, both managers have made a number of changes: five for Croatia, three for Morocco. Luka Modric remains in the squad for what will almost certainly (I said almost) be his last World Cup game. Some of Morocco’s injured players are included among the substitutes, including captain Romain Saiss. Their starting XI includes uncapped teenager Bilal El Khanouss.
Croatia (possible 4-3-3) Livakovic; Stanisic, Sutalo, Guardiol, Perisic; Majer, Modric, Kovacic; Orsic, Kramaric, Livaja.Substitutes: Grbic, Ivusic, Barisic, Erlic, Lovren, Brozovic, Vlasic, Pasalic, Petkovic, Budimir, Sosa, Vida, Juranovic, Sucic, Jakic.
Morocco (possible 4-3-3) Bonus; Hakimi, Dari, El Yamiq, Attiat-Allah; Sabiri, Amrabat, El Khannouss; Ziyech, En-Nesyri, Boufal Substitutes: Aguerd, Saiss, Ounahi, Hamdallah, Zaroury, Chair, El Kajoui, Aboukhlal, Amallah, Ezzalzouli, Cheddira, Tagnaouti, Benoun, Jabrane.
Referee Abdulrahman Al-Jassim (Qatar)
Updated at 14.52 GMT
Croatia has a happy memory of the third-place playoff. In 1998 the Netherlands won 2-1; more importantly, Davor Suker scored his sixth goal of the tournament, which earned him the Golden Boot ahead of Gabriel Batistuta and Christian Vieri. Also look out for a, ahem, unique celebration of Bolo Zenden.
Wait, come back
preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the third place playoff between Croatia and Morocco. For some, this is the most pointless game in world football; for others, it’s an essential part of the rhythm of the final week of the World Cup, a gentle palate cleanser before the final.
On this occasion, it will also be a celebration of the underdogs who have enriched Qatar 2022. Croatia and Morocco drew 0-0 in their opener, with just four shots on target between them; If you had said, at the final whistle, that they would meet again in the bronze medal match, you would have been laughed at…