Croatia beat Morocco to finish third at World Cup

DOHA: Croatia defeated Morocco 2-1 in the World Cup third place play-off on Saturday (Dec 17), with Mislav Orsic curling home the winner.

Josko Gvardiol, one of the stars of the tournament in Qatar, headed Croatia into the lead in the seventh minute at the Khalifa International Stadium but Achraf Dari brought Morocco level right away.

Orsic's terrific curling strike late in the first half ensured Croatia took home the bronze medal, the 11th World Cup in a row a European team has finished third.

"It's a bronze medal but for us it's like a gold medal," Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic said.

Walid Regragui, the Morocco coach, said there was a lot for his team to proudly reflect on after they became the first African semi-finalists in World Cup history.

"It's a bitter defeat but I think it's deserved," said Regragui.

"We have a team that never gave in. We'll remember a lot of matches, we're going to come back stronger. We've united our country for a month, everybody was happy."

Morocco, who had never gone beyond the last 16 before this World Cup, had signalled their intent with a spirited display against 2018 runners-up Croatia in their opening game in Qatar.

The rematch was nothing like the cagey 0-0 draw in the group stage, with Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou dangerously close to passing the ball into his own net early on.

Croatia soon surged in front from a well-rehearsed free-kick as Ivan Perisic nodded Lovro Majer's clip into the box back towards a diving Gvardiol, who planted his header into the corner.

But Morocco hit back two minutes later when Hakim Ziyech's free-kick looped up off the head of Majer, allowing Dari to head past Dominik Livakovic.

Andrej Kramaric headed straight at Bounou, who then did well to scoop the ball to