Argentina Thrash Croatia To Reach Their Sixth FIFA World Cup Final

Summary

• Argentina played exceptional football to beat Croatia 3-0
• Argentina have now qualified for their sixth World Cup final
• They will play the winner of the France vs. Morocco game on Dec 14

Argentina took on Croatia in the first semi-final at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Argentina were expected to win this game but given the unpredictability and upsets at the 2022 World Cup, Croatian fans were pretty confident that Croatia would upset the South American powerhouse and make it to their second consecutive World Cup final.

Argentina All Class In 3-0 Defeat

Croatia did not score a lot of goals at the World Cup but they have been exceptional in their defence play. For the first 20 minutes of the game, it was an even contest as Croatia looked solid in defence.

But it did not take long for Argentina to get their act together and start putting pressure on Croatia. Julián Álvarez was fouled in the penalty box by goal keeper Dominik Livaković and that got Argentina a penalty which Lionel Messi took and converted to give Argentina a 1-0 lead.

Alvarez put in a fantastic run from just inside the half line to get past the Croatian defense and beat the goal-keeper in the 39th minute to give Argentina a 2-0 lead going into half-time. Croatia who have played two games past the 90 minute mark in Qatar looked defeated and did not have the offense to put pressure on Argentina and score.

Álvarez scored his second goal of the match in the 69th minute after Messi put in a brilliant pass that allowed the 22 year old to find the back of the net yet again to give Argentina a 3-0 lead and take them to the World Cup final.

This was a fantastic game for Álvarez who took a picture with Messi over a decade ago, hoping that he would one day play for Argentina. Álvarez not only made it to the national team but did even better as he got to play with his idol Messi.

Argentina Will Play Either France or Morocco

Argentina have made it to 6 World Cup finals and have won the FIFA World Cup twice. They will now wait to play the winner of the second semi-final between France and Morocco which takes place on Dec 14.