ISLAMABAD: Two times football champions Argentina eliminated Croatia from the FIFA World Cup’s title race, as they defeated Croatia 3-0, thanks to Julian Alvarez (2 goals) and Leonel Messi (1 goal) in the first semifinal of the mage soccer fixture of the world at Lusail Football Stadium Doha, Qatar in the wee hours of Wednesday.
The first semifinal of the FIFA World Cup started with a slow pace, as both teams were looking a bit careful and defensive; however, during the first 10 minutes of the game, the jam pack stadium could not see a single shoot on any goalpost. Instead of attacking the opponents, the players of both sides tried their best to keep the ball in control, and most of the time, they passed back to the defenders to avoid any big damage. The first shoot occurred in the 18th minute by a Croatian forward, which was not on target.
Argentina’s first shoot was on target in the 26th minute of the game, which opposite goalkeeper D Livakovic brilliantly defended; as before, the two times champions attempted twice on Croatia but could not make their efforts fruitful. Lionel Messi scored his 5th goal of the tournament in the 34th minute of the semifinal contest against Croatia, as the referee awarded a penalty kick to Argentina. Messi led his team 1-0.
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FIFA World Cup 2022: Argentina’s aggressive game strategy
Julian Alvarez doubled the Argentina lead in the 39 minutes, and after going up 2-0, Argentina showed more aggression next five minutes, and their four shoots were on target out of fives total. In the last minutes of the first half, Croatia played struggled hard and made a couple of efforts to reduce the deficit, and they failed to steer the ball into the net. Messi XIs were ahead at the interval with a score-line of 2-0.
Meanwhile, in the second half, Argentina maintained the same pace of the game and attached to the opponents’ back-t-back to score more goals, as they succeeded in the 69th minute when all efforts provided an occasion for Julian Alvarez to guide the ball in the net and scored his second goal in the semifinal against Croatia.
FIFA World Cup 2022: Argentina make history
Argentina, who had won the FIFA World Cup title twice in the past, in 1978 and 1986, after beating Netherlands and Germany respectively in the finals, produced a super game in the crucial fixture of the Qatar World Cup, as they will meet with the winner of the second semifinal team in the last match of the FIFA World Cup 2022,
Argentina (Playing XIs):
D Martinez (goalkeeper), N Molina, C Romero, N Otamendi, N Taglia fico, R De Paul, E Fernandez, L Paredes, A Mac Allister, Leonel Messi (captain), Julian Alvarez
Croatia (Playing XIs):
D Livakovic (goalkeeper), B Sosa, J Gvardiol, D Lovren, J Juranovic, M Kovacic, M Vrozovic, L Modric, I Perisis, A Aramaric, M Pasalic
1st Semifinal on December 14, 2022 (Argentina beat Croatia 3-0)
2nd Semifinal on December 15, 2022 (France Vs Morocco)
3rd Position Play-off on December 17, 2022
Final on December 18, 2022 (Argentina vs France / Morocco)
