Soon we will know who will be the first finalist of the 2022 World Cup. Argentina and Croatia will play the first semifinal this Tuesday, the 13th. The confrontation is scheduled for 4 pm (Brasília time), at the Lusail stadium. Whoever reaches the final will face the winner of France vs Morocco, game of the other semifinal.
Argentina doesn’t know what it’s like to be eliminated in the semifinals of the World Cup. There were four disputes and four rankings for the final. Against Croatia, the goal is to reach the fifth decision in the search for the first title in the last act of Lionel Messi, who says goodbye to the World Cup.
Lionel Scaloni has a doubt and three distinct possibilities to face Croatia this Tuesday. Striker Di María, defender Lisandro Martínez and defensive midfielder Paredes compete for a place among the starters, changing the scheme with the choice of each one of them.
If he starts with Di María (most likely possibility), Scaloni will have Argentina playing in a 4-3-3 formation, with Messi and Julián Álvarez completing the attacking trio. It is the formation most used by Argentines.
The option for Lisandro Martínez would make Argentina play with three defenders, forming a line of five defenders, with Molina and Tagliafico acting more freely as wingers. Paredes’ choice would change the format to 4-4-2, with Messi and Julián Álvarez in attack.
Current runner-up, Croatia seeks to repeat the feat of the last Cup. The team reached the semifinals having won only one game out of five played. In the first phase, it finished second in Group F, led by Morocco. He drew 0-0 with the Africans and Belgium, and thrashed Canada, 4-1. In the round of 16, he eliminated Japan on penalties after a 1-1 draw in 120 minutes, an identical script to the quarter-finals, when he overcame the favorite Brazil .
Croatia are coming off two matches in which they played extra time in the World Cup knockout stage, and Dalic admitted the team’s fatigue. For the duel against the Argentines, however, the lineup will be practically the same as the game with Brazil, with a single change in the attack.
The Croatian press is betting that Pasalic, starting against the Brazilian national team, will give way to Vlasic in the starting 11. Thus, the proposal to have a midfielder on the right end is maintained. Kramaric is expected to remain at center forward, although Petkovic scored an important goal against Brazil.
The general overview of the Argentina vs Croatia match is balanced. In five games, there were two wins for each side and a draw. In Worlds, there were two matches. In the group stage of the 1998 World Cup, the Argentines won 1-0. In the first stage of the Russian Cup, in 2018, Croatia scored a resounding 3-0. This was the last match between the teams, considering friendlies and any competitions.
ARGENTINA VS CROATIA GUESS: FIRST GOAL WILL GO TO ARGENTINA
The South American team has players in the front line with a lot of technical quality, like Julián Álvarez who got the vacancy that belonged to Lautaro Martínez, in addition to Lionel Messi, Di María and Enzo Fernández.
So, the Croatian defense will have a hard time keeping Argentina from scoring the first goal of the match. It should be noted that the Argentines started by scoring in all games so far.
ARGENTINA VS CROATIA GUESS: BOTH TEAMS SCORE A GOAL
The Croatia national team has players with a lot of skill, physical strength and when they need to can score a goal at any time, even more when they start losing.
The Argentines are not far behind when it comes to scoring, having scored at least one goal in all matches of the 2022 World Cup, with an average of two per game.
