Croatia has won the bronze medal at the football World Cup for the second time in just their 6th appearance, Trend reports citing Croatia Week.
Croatia beat Morocco 2-1 in an entertaining 3rd-4th playoff match at the Khalifa International Stadium on Saturday to finish the 2022 FIFA World Cup on a high.
Goals to World Cup sensation Joško Gvardiol and a typical Mislav Oršić finish was enough to give Croatia the win to see them finish third at the World Cup.
With a number of small injuries, coach Zlatko Dalić was forced to make changes and he surprised many when he announced a very attacking line-up before the match.
Oršić, Josip Stanišić, Marko Livaja, Josip Šutalo and Lovro Majer all started in a new 3-5-2 formation and immediately it paid off with Croatia looking more direct and dangerous going forward from the start.
Ivan Perišić at left back gave Croatia another dimension and his overlapping with Oršić caused Morocco all sorts of problems.
Croatia took the lead in just the 7th minute after a cleaver free kick to Perišić who headed back into the path of a diving Gvardiol who head home to score his first World Cup goal.