Argentina & Lionel Messi in Qatar World Cup Showdown with Luka Modric's Croatia

Argentina and Lionel Messi will face Croatia on Tuesday in a World Cup semi-final that pits South American flair against the guile of Luka Modric and a remarkable fighting spirit. In the second semi-final on Wednesday.

Lionel Messi and Luka Modric would again be adversaries; both have waged a war for eternity the engine of Barcelona (Messi is no longer in Catalunya to the dismay of many) and Real Madrid in one of football’s greatest club rivalries. Now, they face off in another bitter battle at the grand settings of the Lusail Stadium, the hopes of their nations to make it to yet another World Cup final.

Both have come close but faltered in the end – Messi in 2014 and Modric the heartbreak (2018) is more recent. They have aged since, and their games are now different. 

Modric, perhaps troubled by the years of those niggles, can hardly last a full game but still runs the Croatian play with a perfect partnership with Marcelo Brozovic and Mateo Kovacic in the middle. The 37-year-old completed 103 of his 115 attempted passes (the most by a player in the quarterfinal against Brazil), while the trio regained possession 21 times, acting as a wall ahead of its defense to stop the Brazilians from creating trouble in the crucial final third.

“Mateo, Luka and Marcelo are the best Croatia midfield in history. I don’t think it can be repeated. When you pass them the ball it is safer than having your money in the bank,” defender Josip Juranovic said. “I don’t think we need to fear anybody. We need to look at ourselves to play our best game. I would say the secret of our success is our togetherness, our unity. The fact that we act and play as a family.”

Croatia, a country of four million, has already achieved the remarkable and the emergence of RB Leipzig center-back Josko Gvardiol, carrying a price tag of GBP 70 million who has further strengthened its defense. Goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic made 11 saves against Brazil and stopped the Rodrygo’s penalty that took Croatia to consecutive semifinals in the quadrennial event. They will make Argentina’s life miserable, offering a staunch rear-guard that will be hard to break. Zlatko Dalic’s side reached the 2018 World Cup final without winning any of its knockout games in regulation time and will look to repeat the performance again.

The availability of a fit-again Rodrigo De Paul and Angel Di Maria would offer more options to coach Lionel Scaloni, who is expected to opt for a back four after using a 5-3-2 system against the Dutch. “Both the players are fit and have trained. and we will need to see how many minutes they can play,” he said.

 

Dalic might be tempted to introduce Bruno Petkovic from the start in place of Andrej Kramaric after his dramatic equaliser against Brazil, but Croatia’s modus operandi would always be to take this game deep and rely on Livakovic.