Argentina vs Croatia preview
Having struggled through colossal battles of their own, Argentina and Croatia will meet at the Lusail Iconic Stadium in the semi-final of the men’s FIFA World Cup on Tuesday, in what threatens to be another classic clash.
Lionel Scaloni’s Argentina would take a lot of heart and confidence from their epic victory over the Dutch on penalties, especially because of the manner in which events transpired.
For more than 80 minutes, La Albiceleste executed their primary plan smoothly, finding enough outlets to score twice while collectively dismissing away any and all questions that the Dutch asked of Argentina.
However, in the ending stages of the tie, the Argentinians lost the plot as the Oranje basked in mayhem and charted an incredible comeback.
But the fact that, in a heavily enflamed encounter, Argentina could gather themselves and rise again after the Oranje onslaught to progress to the last four, would be an immense belief-booster for Scaloni’s side.
Argentina’s journey in this World Cup has been fairly linear in many ways. After the shock defeat against Saudi Arabia, they’ve perennially been playing catch-up with all of their matches being must-win, and to their credit, La Albiceleste have uplifted their standards with each passing test.
Official semi finals 🚨🏆 #Qatar2022
▪️ France vs Morocco
▪️ Argentina vs Croatia
Who’s gonna win the Cup? 👀 pic.twitter.com/lTg2XXzA3Q
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) December 10, 2022
La Albiceleste have reached the last four of the World Cup on four occasions without ever losing at this stage. Scaloni’s team will want to stay on the sunnier side of history, but the assignment on their hands is strenuous, and yet again they’ll have to raise their ceiling.
On the other hand, in a World Cup of the underdogs, where Morocco have become the sweetheart of the football world, Zlatko Dalić’s Croatia have also definitely not winced away from punching above their weight.
Their latest casualty was Tite’s Brazil whom Croatia, with their tenacity, compact organisation, and downright denial to yield, forced to dance to their tune.
Unsurprisingly, Dalić had set up his side to play out a draw and take the game as deep as possible. After a long 106 minutes of perfect execution, Neymar tried to spoil Vatreni’s party with an artistic goal. But, somehow, Croatia found an equaliser to take the game to their comfort zone – the penalty shootout, where they won…
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