The world’s best soccer star Lionel Messi’s ‘Last World Cup Dance’ will be held in the final of the 2022 Qatar tournament.
Argentina defeated Croatia 3-0 in the Qatar World Cup semi-final held at Lusail Stadium in Qatar on the 14th (Korean time), with Messi scoring one goal and one assist, including the winning goal from a penalty kick, and Julian Alvarez, who scored multiple goals.
After passing through the group stage of this tournament as first place in Group C, Argentina defeated Australia in the round of 16 and the Netherlands in the quarterfinals, and advanced to the semifinals, advancing to the final of the 6th World Cup in its career.
Argentina won the national championship in 1978 and Mexico in 1986, followed by Uruguay in 1930, Italy in 1990 and Brazil in 2014.
In particular, Argentina’s best performance so far was runner-up in the Brazil tournament during Messi’s career as a national team member, but only one step was left to win in this tournament, which is highly likely to be Messi’s last World Cup.
Argentina will compete with the winner of the semi-final match between France and Morocco (4:00 on the 15th at Albaite Stadium) and the final at Lusail Stadium on the 19th at 0:00.
After passing through the group stage in second place in Group F and winning a penalty shootout victory against Japan in the round of 16, Croatia, who 토토 advanced to the semifinals by taking Brazil, the world’s top ranked FIFA ranking, in the quarterfinals, won the 2018 Russia Tournament (runner-up) stopped at the threshold of the final for the second time in a row.
Croatia will face the loser of France-Morocco for 3rd place in the 3rd and 4th place matches to be held at Khalifa International Stadium in Al Rayyan at 0:00 on the 18th.
In Argentina, Messi was always the starting pitcher. Messi, who stood at the forefront of the attack with Alvarez, participated in his 25th World Cup match and became the main character of the record tied with Lothar Matheus (Germany) for the most times.
Croatia used Ivan Perisic, Andrei Kramaric, and Mario Pasalic in their three-top lineup, while Luka Modric sortied in the midfield.
In the beginning, both teams played a cautious search, but after the 20th minute of the first half, the fire gradually started to ignite, and a penalty kick declared in the 32nd minute of the first half tilted the flow of the game to the Argentina side.
Alvarez, who received a long pass near the half-line, had a one-on-one opportunity, and a penalty kick was declared due to a foul by Croatian goalkeeper Dominik Rivakovic, who tried to block it.
Messi, who started as a kicker, kicked hard with his left foot and tied for the top scorer with Kylian Mbappe (France) with his 5th goal in the tournament, and tied for 6th with his 11th goal in World Cup history.
In the 39th minute of the first half, in a counterattack situation, Alvarez’s solo dribble breakthrough followed by a right-footed finish made it 2-0 and spent a perfect first half.
In the second half, Croatia, who was on the defensive, started the second half by replacing Pasalic and side defender Borna Sosa with Nikola Vlasic and Mislav Orsic from the K League. In the 5th minute of the second half, midfielder Marcello Brozovic was replaced by striker Bruno Petkovic, aiming for a comeback goal.
In the 17th minute of the second half, Argentina replaced midfielder Leandro Paredes with defender Lisandro Martinez and went into defense.
In the 24th minute of the second half, Argentina’s decisive blow broke out while Croatia seldom created a decisive chance.
From the right side of the penalty area, Messi overcame the close defense of Yoshko Gbardiol, who emerged as the best defensive prospect of this tournament, and succeeded in breaking through, and Alvarez finished Messi’s cutback with his right foot and scored a key goal. Alvarez, who scored multiple goals on the day, continued the competition for the top scorer with 4 goals in the tournament.
In the 36th minute of the second half, Croatia took out Modric and virtually admitted defeat, and the two teams finished the game in preparation mode for the final and 3rd and 4th place respectively.