Match report: Argentina 3, Croatia 0
Argentina cruise to World Cup final
Argentina became the first team to secure a spot in the World Cup final with a 3-0 win over Croatia. Here are the key moments, stats and takeaways.
Key moments:
25’ — Enzo Fernández forces Dominik Livaković into the first save of the game.
32’ — GOAL: Julián Álvarez gets between the Croatian center backs and is taken down by Livaković inside the box. Livaković gets a yellow card for the foul, and Mateo Kovačić is shown a yellow card for dissent. Lionel Messi smashes the penalty kick into the top right corner.
39’ — GOAL: Álvarez picks up the ball in the middle of the field after a touch from Messi and manages to poke the ball into the net following a series of failed clearances.
42’ — Alexis Mac Allister’s header off Messi’s corner is pushed away by Livaković and nearly deflects into the net. The ball ultimately goes out for another corner.
45+5’ — The whistle blows to end the first half.
46’ — Croatia make two changes at the start of the second half, bringing on Mislav Oršić and Nikola Vlašić in place of Borna Sosa and Mario Pašalić.
50’ — Bruno Petković replaces Marcelo Brozović in what appears to be an injury substitution.
56’ — Álvarez lays the ball off for Fernández at the edge of the box, but he can’t get a shot off.
57’ — Messi and Fernández combine beautiflly to get Messi a shot at a tight angle that is saved by Livaković.
62’ — Argentina add a third center back by swapping Leandro Paredes for Lisandro Martínez.
62’ — Emiliano Martínez pushes away Dejan Lovren’s header from a corner, his most important intervention of the game so far.
68’ — Cristian Romero gets a yellow card for an overaggressive tackle
69’ — GOAL: Messi works his magic, putting Joško Gvardiol in the spin cycle and cutting the ball back to Álvarez.
72’ — Marko Livaja enters, Andrej Kramarić exits.
74’ — Lisandro Martínez and Paulo Dybala replace Álvarez and Rodrigo De Paul.
81’ — Luka Modrić goes off to a loud ovation. Lovro Majer comes on.
83’ — Mac Allister fires a shot wide that came off a quickly taken free kick.
85’ — Ivan Perišić flicks a dangerous ball to the back post that no one can make contact with.
87’ — Ángel Correa and Juan Foyth replace Mac Allister and Nahuel Molina.
90+5’ — The final whistle blows.
Stats of note:
Messi’s penalty was the 11th World Cup goal, giving him the most in Argentina men’s national team history.
Messi is also the first player to record a goal and an assist in four different men’s World Cup games since 1966, according to Opta.
Argentina still has never lost in the semifinals at a men’s World Cup.
Per the Fox broadcast, this was just the second time in the last eight games Croatia fell behind that they failed to come back and win. The other was the 2018 World Cup final.
Álvarez is the first player to score multiple goals for Argentina at a men’s World Cup game since Messi did so against Nigeria in the 2014 group stage.
Player(s) of the game: Argentina’s forward duo
Messi was the best player on the field, and Álvarez was the most valuable. Álvarez was the reason Messi got his goal. Messi was the reason Álvarez got his second. The work Álvarez did off the ball needs to be applauded as well. It didn’t feel right to leave either player out, so they’re both going to get the recognition they deserve. Álvarez had the edge until Messi embarrassed a terrific young defender in Gvardiol.
The takeaways:
1. It was going to plan for Croatia until it wasn’t
Argentina had done absolutely nothing in attack until Álvarez popped up behind the Croatian defense and drew the penalty. Messi wasn’t posing any threat. Croatia were controlling the tempo of the game. Once Messi opened the scoring, Croatia’s defensive organization fell apart while Argentina grew more and more confident. By the time the halftime whistle blew, Croatia were lucky to only be down two. Their response to going behind was in stark contrast to the previous times they found themselves trailing in the tournament.
2. Argentina didn’t let the game get interesting
This was the fifth straight game Argentina took a 2-0 lead. They gave up one goal (almost two) in their round of 16 win over Australia and conceded two goals to the Netherlands. This was the first time in those five games they scored a third goal and the first time since the group stage they were able to keep a clean sheet. Going to a back three early in the second half didn’t invite unnecessary pressure, and they looked incredibly comfortable from start to finish. That was not the case in the previous two rounds.
3. It’s hard to be that dominant without the ball
Argentina had at least 50% of the possession (not including when possession was “in contest”) in all of their games except the Netherlands, where possession was basically even. They possessed the ball only 35% of the time against Croatia and still managed seven shots on target to Croatia’s two. Half of Croatia’s 12 shots came from outside the penalty box, which is further proof of how much difficulty they had creating quality chances. This was one of the rare games where possession truly meant next to nothing. Coaches can say they don’t care about it at all, but it usually gives at least some indication of who is controlling the game even if that control doesn’t lead to goals.