90min

Twitter reacts as Croatia beat Morocco in World Cup third place playoff

By Sean Walsh

Croatia take the bronze
Croatia take the bronze / Matthew Ashton - AMA/GettyImages
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For some reason, it seems everyone (myself included) has brainwashed themselves into thinking the World Cup third play playoff is the most useless fixture in existence, when in actuality it's had a pretty entertaining history.

Croatia's triumph against Morocco in the 2022 edition was arguably the most entertaining match involving either side at this World Cup. Funny, that.

Goalkeeper Bono has had a sensational tournament, but he nearly began the playoff by scoring a calamitous own goal, instead managing to pass the ball out of play past his post for a corner.

Just minutes into the game, Josko Gvardiol finished up a well-worked Croatian set piece with a thumping header to break the deadlock.

There were some other, er, unorthodox assessments of the defensive giant.

But before Croatia could even catch their collective breath, Morocco levelled from a set piece of their own through Achraf Dari.

Mislav Orsic - famous for scoring against Tottenham, West Ham and Chelsea for Dinamo Zagreb in recent years - then put Croatia back in front with a wonderful curling effort.

Fans of Queens Park Rangers rejoiced at the start of the second half when playmaker Ilias Chair was brought on for his first minutes this World Cup.

Burnley fans were feeling the same way when Anass Zaroury was introduced.

Croatia were infuriated that a challenge on Bruno Petkovic in the box did not yield a penalty, while the striker then went and impeded Achraf Hakimi at the other end, again with the referee waving play on.

Croatia clung on through six minutes of stoppage time to ensure they will be leaving Qatar with bronze medals.

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