Argentina and Croatia will face off for a place in the 2022 FIFA World Cup final as both sides sealed their place in the semifinals with penalty shootout victories against the Netherlands and Brazil respectively. Argentina have a unique record – they never lost semifinal match at the quadrennial showpiece.
Head to Head:
Both the teams have played against each other five times at International level:
Argentina Won: 2
Croatia Won: 2
Draw: 1
In FIFA World Cup the teams played against each other twice in group stages:
1998: Argentina 1-0 Croatia
2018: Croatia 3-0 Argentina
Argentina:
- Argentina will play 6th WC SF in their history – 1930, 1978, 1986, 1990, 2014, 2022. They have never lost in semifinals of FIFA World Cup.
- 1930 – defeated USA 6-1
- 1978 – there was no SF, 8 teams played in two group and the winners qualified for final. (defeated Poland 2-0 and Peru 6-0, drew with Brazil 0-0)
- 1986 – defeated Belgium 2-0
- 1990 – defeated Italy 1-1 (4-3) on penalty shootout
- 2014 – defeated Netherlands 0-0 (4-2) on penalty shootout
- Messi now has four goals and two assists in the Qatar World Cup. His best goal tally at a World Cup has been five during the 2014 edition in Brazil where Argentina lost in the final.
- Lionel Messi also won the Player of the Match award his ninth overall at World Cups, he thus went past Cristiano Ronaldo, who has seven trophies in the quadrennial showpiece
- Lionel Messi drew level with Gabriel Batistuta at the top of Argentina’s all-time FIFA World Cup scorers list with a goal against the Netherlands. Batistuta had managed a tally of 10 goals in World Cups in 12 appearances over the 1994-2002 editions.
- Lionel Messi has assisted 5 goals in the WC knockout stages, this is the most on record in the knockout rounds of the finals, surpassing Pelé’s 4.
- Lionel Messi stands at 5th place in all time WC record of most goals and assist (17 – 10 goals and 7 assist). Klose (GER) with 19 (16+3), Ronaldo (BRAZIL) 19 (15+4), Gerd Muller (GER) 19 (14+5) and Pele 19 (12+7) are above him.
- Argentina’s appearance in World Cup Finals 18 – Played: 86 Matches; Won: 46; Draw: 16; Lost: 24; (Knockout matches which were decided on penalty shoot-out – included in draw) Updated till Quarterfinal Match against Netherlands.
Croatia:
- Croatia will play the 3rd WC SF in their history, after 1998 and 2018. Since their 1st appearance in the tournament in 1998, only Germany (4) hhave played more semifinals.
- 1998 – lost to host France by 2-1.
- 2018 – defeated England by 2-1.
- Croatia have now won 4 out of 4 Penalty Shootouts at WCs. They are level with Germany and Argentina with the most Penalty Shootout wins in World Cup History.
- Since 1998, Croatia have played 6 knockout games in WC out of which 4 had been decided through penalty shootout.
- Decisive on Penalty shootout:
- vs Denmark in 2018, Russia 2018, Japan 2022 and Brazil 2022.
- Dominik Livaković became the 1st GK to make 11 saves in a single FIFA WC match since Tim Howard (15) v Belgium in the 2014 Round of 16.
- Croatia have saved most shootout penalties in FIFA WC history:
- Danijel Subašić (4)
- Dominik Livaković (4)
- 3 goal keepers have saved 4 shootout penalties in a single WC – Sergio Goycochea (Argentina) (1990), Danijel Subašić (Croatia) (2018) and Dominik Livaković (Croatia) (2022).
- Croatia’s appearance in World Cup Finals 6 – Played: 28 Matches; Won: 12; Draw: 8; Lost: 8; (Knockout matches which were decided on penalty shoot-out – included in draw) Updated till Quarterfinal Match against Brazil.
Picture Courtesy: Social Media
