Morocco could make history by beating Croatia in 3rd place playoff© AFP
Morocco’s dream run in the 2022 FIFA World Cup came to an end with a 2-0 defeat to defending champions France in the semi-finals. By progressing to the last 4, Morocco created history having become the first African side to do so. They now await a fiery Croatia side that lost to Argentina in the second semi-final. Though the two teams square-off in an ‘inconsequential’ third-place playoff, there’s still plenty to look to forward to, especially for Morocco who could go on to create history.
Morocco, who have unarguably been one of the most impressive teams in the tournament, did punch above their weight as they made it as far as the semi-finals. But, what is interesting to note is that no team, outside of Europe and South America, has ever finished 3rd in the history of the FIFA World Cup.
If Morocco go on to beat Croatia on Saturday, they would become the first team, outside of Europe and South America, in FIFA World Cup history to take the third spot on the podium.
List of past teams who finished 3rd and 4th in FIFA World Cup history:
|
Year |
3rd-Place Team |
4th-Place Team |
Score at full-time |
Remarks |
|
1930 |
United States of America |
Yugoslavia |
– |
Positions decided on the basis of overall performance. |
|
1934 |
Germany |
Austria |
3-2 |
– |
|
1938 |
Brazil |
Sweden |
4-2 |
– |
|
1950 |
Sweden |
Spain |
– |
Round-robin format |
|
1954 |
Austria |
Uruguay |
3-1 |
– |
|
1958 |
France |
West Germany |
6-3 |
– |
|
1962 |
Chile |
Yugoslavia |
1-0 |
– |
|
1966 |
Portugal |
Soviet Union |
2-1 |
– |
|
1970 |
West Germany |
Uruguay |
1-0 |
– |
|
1974 |
Poland |
Brazil |
1-0 |
– |
|
1978 |
Brazil |
Italy |
2-1 |
– |
|
1982 |
Poland |
France |
3-2 |
– |
|
1986 |
France |
Belgium |
4-2 |
– |
|
1990 |
Italy |
England |
2-1 |
– |
|
1994 |
Sweden |
Bulgaria |
4-0 |
– |
|
1998 |
Croatia |
Netherlands |
2-1 |
– |
|
2002 |
Turkey |
South Korea |
3-2 |
– |
|
2006 |
Germany |
Portugal |
3-1 |
– |
|
2010 |
Germany |
Uruguay |
3-2 |
– |
|
2014 |
Netherlands |
Brazil |
3-0 |
– |
|
2018 |
Belgium |
England |
2-0 |
– |
|
2022 |
Morocco/Croatia |
Croatia/Morocco |
TBD |
– |
France had ended Morocco’s World Cup dream as goals from Theo Hernandez and Randal Kolo Muani gave the holders a 2-0 win in their semi-final clash to set up a showdown on Sunday with Lionel Messi’s Argentina.
It appeared that France might make short work of their opponents when Hernandez scored inside five minutes at Al Bayt Stadium on Wednesday, despite having a hostile crowd against them.
Morocco, the first African or Arab team ever to reach the last four at a World Cup, dug deep despite injury problems only to concede a late second as substitute Kolo Muani scored moments after coming on.
With AFP inputs
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