Argentina and Croatia will square off on Tuesday, with the winner earning a berth in the FIFA World Cup Final in 2022. Much of the spotlight in the matchup will be between Lionel Messi and Luka Modric.
🇦🇷In 2014,Lionel Messi led Argentina to the World Cup final but lost.
🇭🇷In 2018,Luka Modric led Croatia to their 1st World Cup final,but lost.
🏅Both players won the Golden Ball-Best Player Award.
🐐Two masterminds of games facing off each other.#FIFAWorldCup|#ARG|#ARGCRO pic.twitter.com/DodkeRydSx
— FIFA World Cup Stats (@alimo_philip) December 12, 2022
Before the game, Modric spoke with the Spanish news outlet RTVE (via Marca) about the World Cup and the Croatian team’s hopes as they enter their second consecutive semifinal.
One of the many topics the 37-year-old discussed with the outlet was his mentality facing the South American nation, knowing what’s at stake when the ball kicks off.
While Modric acknowledged that the Croatian national team would focus on Messi to stop his influence in the game, the squad intends to concentrate on the entire Argentina team and not just one player.
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“Argentina is a big team; I don’t just want to play against a player,” Modric said.
“Of course, Leo Messi is very big, their best player, and we’re going to have a lot of difficulties to stop him, but we are prepared, and we are going to give it our all.
“We are going to try to have the best game of our lives in the tournament. I hope it will be enough to be in the final.”
Croatia has pulled two impressive wins this knockout stage with victories over Japan and Brazil, two countries that won their group, and now they will attempt to make it three.
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