Croatia finish third in World Cup after Mislav Orsic win over Morocco | World Cup 2022
Croatia beat Morocco 2-1 in a third-place World Cup qualifier on Saturday and finished in the top three of the tournament for the second consecutive edition. Finalists in 2018, Croatia also finished third in the 1998 World Cup, beating the Netherlands 2-1.
Josko Gvardiol put Croatia ahead after a well-crafted set piece. Lovro Majer fired a free-kick to Ivan Perisic, who swung away from his marker to head the ball into the middle of the box where Gvardiol was perfectly positioned to send the ball into the net with a brilliant diving header.
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But it took just two minutes for Morocco to find the equaliser, also from a free-kick, as Croatian Majer tried to clear the ball but miscalculated his header and badly missed, setting up the Moroccan Achraf Dari, who was alone in the six meters. -box to send home a close header.
Croatia scored the winning goal three minutes from the break when Mislav Orsic struck a dipping, curling shot from just inside the box that came off the post. They held on to their lead through an absorbing but scoreless second half.
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