
Argentina vs Croatia semifinals: With the World Cup 2022 in Qatar reaching the penultimate stage of the tournament, all eyes are keen to see whether Lionel Messi-led Argentina, which had a bumpy start to the world cup, would ultimately enter the finals this year. More eyes are on Croatia which haven’t lost a single match in the tournament, and were the finalists in the last tournament. In the last six World Cup appearances, Croatia has reached the semifinals on three occasions, while four years ago Croatia contested the final, ultimately losing to France.
Comparing both the teams at the world cup, though there is no match to Argentina’s track record so far, experts have spoken about Croatia’s emergence as a superpower on the football field and have termed their success against Brazil in the quarterfinals as a case of David knocking out Goliath.
In this tournament, Croatia had two draws and one win in the group stage. In the round of 16, the team played a lovely game against Japan and defeated the Asian team on penalties to storm into the quarters.
In the quarters, they first equalised Neymar’s goal in the extra time, and then won the game on penalities.
When and where to watch
Argentina vs Croatia FIFA World Cup 2022 semi-final fixture will be played at the Lusail Stadium in Qatar.
When: Argentina vs Croatia FIFA World Cup 2022 semi-final match will be played on Wednesday, December 14 (as per Indian time), at 12.30 AM IST.
Where to watch: Indian fans can watch the Argentina vs Croatia FIFA World Cup 2022 semi-final match on Sports18 and Sports18 HD.
Besides, viewers can the FIFA World Cup match on the Jio Cinema app and website for free.
Teams at play
Lionel Messi will attempt to guide Argentina into the final for the second time in eight years against 2018 World Cup runners-up Croatia. It is immaterial to write how Messi’s magic can make the opponent weak, but Croatia have exceeded expectations again at the World Cup so far. And they eliminated tournament favourites Brazil in the last round. Argentina and Croatia have met twice before in the World Cup group stage, with the La Albicelestes won in 1998 with 1-0, but the Checkered Ones secured a memorable 3-0 win over Argentina in Russia four years ago, and several members of that team are still around to try to make lightning strike twice in Lusail.
Possible lineup
Possible Argentina XI
Martínez; Molina, Romero, Otamendi, Tagliafico; Di María, De Paul, Enzo Fernández, Mac Allister; Messi, Álvarez.
Possible Croatia XI
Livakovic; Juranovic, Lovren, Gvardiol, Sosa; Kovacic, Brozovic, Modric; Pasalic, Kramaric, Perisic.
Referee for Croatia vs Argentina
Italian referee Daniele Orsato will take charge of Argentina-Croatia on Tuesday 13 December.
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