FIFA World Cup 2022 Argentina vs Croatia: The Argentine team, captained by Lionel Messi, has entered the final of the FIFA World Cup 2022. In the semi-finals of this World Cup being hosted by Qatar, Argentina defeated Croatia 3-0 late on Tuesday night. Argentina has now made it to the finals for the first time since 2014. In the final for the title, Argentina will face the winner of the second semi-final, France or Morocco. This title match will be played on December 18 at 8.30 pm Indian time. This will be Lionel Messi’s 26th match in the World Cup. With the arrival of this match, he will become the most capped player in World Cup history.
Argentina vs Croatia final score
| 1st half | 2nd half | Final score | |
| Argentina | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Croatia | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Goals scored in the match like this
- First goal: Argentine captain Messi scored a penalty in the 34th minute
- Second goal: Julian Alvarez scored for Argentina in the 39th minute
- Third goal: In the 69th minute, Alvarez scored on the pass of captain Messi.
Argentina has a chance to win its third title
This could be the last World Cup for 35-year-old Messi. In such a situation, under his captaincy, he is giving full strength to make the Argentine team the champion this time. This time Argentina has a golden chance to win its third title. This team is just one win away from the title. Argentina had won the title twice so far in 1978 and 1986.
Messi set this big record in the World Cup
Lionel Messi has 5 goals in this World Cup. With this, he has equaled Killian Embappe of France. Now Messi and Embappé have come on par in the Golden Boot race. Along with this, Messi has also become the most Argentine player to score 11 goals in World Cup history. In this case, he has broken the record of former veteran Gabriel Batistuta. At number three, Maradona has 8 goals in the World Cup. Messi has made many records in this one match. Messi has also become the oldest player to score the most 5 goals in a single World Cup.
Messi will make a great record as soon as he enters the final match
Argentina captain Messi has created another history in the World Cup with his appearance in this match. This was his 25th World Cup match. With this, Messi has equaled Germany’s Lothar Matthaus in terms of playing the most World Cup matches. Now with entering the final match, Messi will break the record of Matthaus and will make this record of playing the maximum number of 26 matches in the World Cup.
Argentina vs Croatia match highlights
Argentina dominated the first half
In the first half of the match, the Croatian team started with an aggressive game, but in the 34th minute Messi turned the tables by scoring a penalty. After 5 minutes, Alvarez scored the second goal and pushed Croatia completely on the back foot. In the first half, Argentina made 5 attempts on goal, out of which 4 were on target. While Croatia tried 4 times and none of the shots were on target. However, the highest ball possession was with the Croatian team at 62 percent and only 38 percent with Argentina.
Argentina team has fielded in this match with 4-4-2 and Croatia 4-3-3 lineup.
Croatia kicked off and after that they committed the first foul in the 7th minute. On which Argentina got a free kick.
Luka Modric filed in the 13th minute, on which Argentina got a free kick. Messi’s team did not get any benefit both times.
In 25 minutes, Enzo Fernandez shot on the goal post ie on the target, but Croatia’s goalkeeper Livakovic failed him. So far no goal has come in the match. Croatia played a bit aggressively, but to no avail. So far the ball possession was 58 percent with Croatia and 42 percent with Argentina.
In the 32nd minute, Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livkovic fouled Alvarez, on which the goalkeeper was shown a yellow card. Here Argentina got a penalty.
In the 34th minute, Lionel Messi scored a penalty, due to which Argentina took a 1–0 lead against Croatia.
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In the 39th minute, Julián Álvarez scored a goal to give Argentina a 2–0 lead. This is the third goal of 21-year-old Alvarez in this World Cup.
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In the first half of the match, Argentina took a 2-0 lead by scoring two goals. The Croatian team looked completely on the backfoot. These two goals were scored by Messi and Alvarez.
Second half also belonged to Argentina
In the 47th minute i.e. at the beginning of the second half, Croatia got a free kick from about 22 yards on Argentina’s foul. But the Croatian team could not take advantage of it.
In the 50th minute, Croatia took out Marcelo Brozovic and Bruno Petkovich was called as a substitute. This was the first substitution in the match.
Midfielder Leandro Paredes was made to sit on the bench in the 62nd minute. In his place, Lisandro Martinez was called on the field as a substitute. That is, Argentina strengthened its defense from here.
In the 69th minute, Julián Álvarez scored his second goal of the match to give Argentina a 3–0 lead. This goal was assisted by Messi. Alvarez scored 4 goals in this World Cup, while Messi has 3 assists so far.
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In the 75th minute, Argentina took two substitutes. Alvarez and Rodrigo de Paul, who scored the two goals, have been seated out. In his place, forward Paulo Dybala and midfielder Exequiel Palacios were fielded as substitutes.
The Croatian team attacked continuously till the scheduled time of the match, but could not convert any shot into a goal. After all, Argentina maintained its 3-0 lead till the end and with this the match was named after it.
Croatia’s dream of winning its first title shattered
The golden dream of the Croatian team adorned with experienced players to win their first World Cup title has been shattered. This team played the final in the last World Cup, where it had to face defeat at the hands of France. Croatia reached the final only once in 2018. While the Croatian team reached the Super-4 for the third time. First of all, in 1998, this team was at number three. This time also she got eliminated after losing in Super-4. Now he will have to play against France or Morocco, who lost in the second semi-final, for the number-3 battle.
Messi started the World Cup with a crushing defeat
Let us tell you that Argentina lost its first match in this World Cup by 1-2 to Saudi Arabia. After this, by defeating Mexico and then Poland 2-0 in consecutive matches, they made it to the Super-16. Then beat Australia 2-1 in the pre-quarterfinals. After that, in the quarter-finals, the Netherlands team was defeated 4-3 in the penalty shoot-out and made it to the semi-finals. Here too, after defeating Croatia, they entered the finals.
Man of the match
Lionel Messi named man of the match for his great performance with one goal and a wonderful assist.
Argentina vs Croatia match stats
| Argentina | Croatia | |
| 9 | Shots | 12 |
| 7 | Shots on target | 2 |
| 399 | Passes | 508 |
| 83% | Pass accuracy | 87% |
| 15 | Fouls | 8 |
| 2 | Yellow cards | 2 |
| 0 | Red cards | 0 |
| 1 | Offsides | 0 |
| 2 | Corners | 4 |
| 39% | Possession | 61% |
Starting-11 of Argentina vs Croatia match
Argentina squad: Emiliano Martinez (goalkeeper), Lionel Messi (captain), Julian Alvarez, Alexis McAllister, Leandro Paredes, Enzo Fernandez, Rodrigo de Paul, Nicolas Tagliafico, Nicolas Otamendi, Cristian Romero and Nahuel Molina.
Croatia squad: Dominik Livkovic (goalkeeper), Ivan Perisic, Andrej Kramaric, Mario Pasalic, Luka Modric (captain), Mateo Kovacic, Marcelo Brozovic, Josip Juranovic, Josco Guardiol, Borna Sosa and Dejan Lovren.
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