There is undoubtedly a perception the World Cup s third-place play-off is little more than an exhibition match – compared to the final, anyway.
But for Croatia and Morocco, Saturday s clash at the Khalifa International Stadium holds a great deal of significance regardless of what others might think.
Croatia were denied the chance to reach successive World Cup finals by Argentina, while Morocco put up an admirable fight against defending champions France in their 2-0 defeat.
But the fact Croatia – who clinched bronze at the 1998 World Cup – were in the 2018 final does not diminish the achievement of potentially finishing third here for coach Zlatko Dalic.
We are sad and disappointed, but we have to gather energy to come back and be ready for the next fight for bronze, he said.
The match on Saturday is a big final for us, not a small [game]. It s a big deal if we get the bronze.
We have to refresh the team and put healthy players in the team because a grand final is ahead of us.
days to go.
— HNS (@HNS_CFF)
Morocco is the biggest surprise of the World Cup. They ve got national backing, unity, compactness. They knocked out Belgium, Spain and Portugal. They deserve all the respect.
Of course, these two tussled in a rather drab goalless group-stage draw, when Croatia were restricted to just five shots, their fewest ever in a World Cup game.
That encounter was something of a foreshadowing: Croatia have not been one of the tournament s great entertainers.
Morocco caused France plenty of problems and will fancy their chances of worrying Croatia on Saturday, particularly given Dalic s side have faced more shots (75) than any other team at the tournament.
The Atlas Lions have certainly benefited from a degree of pragmatism as well, with one more clean sheet enough for them to become only the eighth team in tournament history to keep five in one World Cup.
Of course, Walid Regragui insisted his team want to finish third, but there s also a degree of their job being done as the head coach acknowledged the gravity of their achievement in becoming Africa s first World Cup semi-finalists
I will give opportunities to those who did not participate, and we will try to clinch the third place, Regragui told reporters.
We realise that we made a great achievement already. We know that from the media, social media, and on TV, we saw the pictures, and we saw that everyone was proud of us in our country.
