Under the leadership of Luka Modric, Croatia was one of the strongest teams in this year’s World Cup. Messi-force became the first team to reach the final of the World Cup by beating Croatia 3-0 under the extraordinary football intelligence of Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni.
Due to Croatia’s organized defence and the tight position of the midfielders, Argentina was not getting any chance to attack through the centre. Messi then went down and pulled Guardiol towards him. This creates a lot of space in front of Alvarez-Molina in Croatia’s box. Most of Argentina’s attacks followed this pattern.
Croatia had 61 per cent of possession throughout the match. But even then, they could not make a very organized attack. Croatia’s midfield trio were excellent at controlling the ball and creating a play, but none of them could make a difference in the match.
Croatia had 61 per cent of possession throughout the match. But even then, they could not make a very organized attack. Croatia’s midfield trio were excellent at controlling the ball and creating a play, but none of them could make a difference in the match.
Shot attempts or ball possession – Croatia was much ahead of Argentina in this match. But even then, they could not make any attack in the match. Although the possession of the game was mostly at the feet of Croatia, the expected goal difference between the two teams said that the deserving team won the match and advanced to the World Cup final.
Paredes helped the ball progress by dropping down with two centre backs during Argentina’s build-up. Enzo Fernandez and De Paul were then positioned in midfield to help with ball progression. Again, Messi or McAllister – one of the two came down to the midfield and created numerical superiority with the Croatia midfielders.
At this time, Romero-Paredes-Otamendi in Argentina’s defence created a 3-versus-2 situation against Croatia’s Kramaric-Perisic. On the other hand, Enzo-De Paul-McAllister created a 3-vs-2 position against Modric-Kovacic in the midfield. As a result, the control of the match gradually began to lean towards Argentina.