Neymar’s World Cup dreams have already been crushed by Croatia. It now intends to harm Lionel Messi in the same way. In the semifinals, Argentina must defeat Croatia, who finished as runners-up in 2018. Messi is going for the one major title that has escaped him.
The memories of 2018 must be bright for Messi. Croatia crushed Argentina 3-0 at the FIFA World Cup 2018. Argentina’s world cup dreams in 2018 were short-lived as they got eliminated in the Round of 16 after having been defeated by France 3-4. Kylian Mbappe, France’s world cup star this time, scored twice in that match to take his team home.
Neymar was left in tears after Croatia beat Brazil 4-2 on penalties following a 1-1 draw through extra time in their quarterfinal match. Croatia defender Josip Juranovic has said that his team have nobody to fear. He has claimed that Croatia’s cohesiveness and unity—the fact that they play and have fun as a family—are the key to their success.
Messi, meanwhile, seems to be taking it upon himself to guide his nation to its third world cup victory and first since Diego Maraddona’s 1986. The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner has scored four goals in five games as Argentina have advanced to the semifinals. Messi had a magical moment when he assisted Nahuel Molina against the Netherlands in the quarterfinals.
When Argentina previously made it to the world cup final in 2014, it fell to Germany at the Maracana Stadium in Brazil, losing 0-1. Messi hasn’t come any closer to winning the trophy than that, but he still has one more game to try. The good news for Argentina is that Messi has scored four goals so far in this tournament and assisted a couple while playing in terrific form.
However, Croatia do not think they can stop Argentina just by stopping Messi. “”The way we approach that is we need to stop them as a team. Not by man marking or some kind of similar tactics. Argentina is not only Messi,” said Croatia striker Bruno Petkovic.
The Argentina vs Croatia match will be played on December 14 at 00:30 AM (Indian time) in the Lusail Iconic Stadium, Lusail.
(With agency inputs)
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