Johannesburg - Argentina reached the Fifa World Cup final following their 3-0 semi-final win over Croatia. For the Albiceleste, it’s now a good chance to win a first World Cup since 1986 and for Lionel Messi to end his World Cup career by winning World football’s most prestigious event.
It will be a second World Cup final for Messi who helped his side also finish as runners-up in the 2014 tournament, where he was awarded the best player award.
The following are five takeaways from the Argentina vs Croatia game.
Argentina impressively dismantle Croatian defence
Even though they suffered a shock 2-1 defeat to Saudi Arabia in their opening game, the current Argentina team produced one of the best attacking displays in the World Cup so far by beating Croatia convincingly. Croatian defenders Josip Juranovic, Dejan Lovren and Josko Gvardiol, the last of whom has been a revelation in this tournament, could not contain the threat of Messi and Julian Alvarez.
Modric and Kovacic were the only two Croatian players who had decent games
Luka Modric also assisted defensively, showing class. Mateo Kovacic caused problems for the Argentina defence early on due to his dribbles. Ultimately, the midfield duo did not get adequate support from their team-mates.
Argentina’s Scaloni proving to be a decent tactician
International coaches are often not the most gifted tacticians around, but Lionel Scaloni showed some nous in this game. Beating Croatia requires good tactical planning from any side given their usually stubborn defending, and very physical approach.
Scaloni got things right as his side overpowered and outshone the European nation’s defence in this game.
Croatia can be proud of their efforts
This was Modric’s last chance to win the World Cup.
Even though his country have gone down, Croatia can once again be proud of themselves. Not many would have expected them to reach the semi-finals. They once again overcame their technical limitations to do so.
Julian Alvarez could be the next star for Argentina
The Manchester City forward is not playing regularly at club level due to the presence of Erling Haaland. There will no doubt be offers from big clubs for him after the World Cup, should City not be able to play him regularly.
He has incredible chemistry with Messi and this makes Argentina the favourites to win the World Cup regardless of who they will play against.
IOL Sport