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There was a weary look on the faces of the local drummers as they trudged around the Khalifa International Stadium, ready to entertain fans outside the arena for one last time. One was comically wrestling with his giant animal-themed headdress, attempting to stop it from falling off.
At the third place play-off, there was a very different feel to proceedings. A feel of a tournament that was coming to an end, after a month of drama and activity. A feel of a show that was nearly over, save for the big day tomorrow.
No longer able to compete for the ultimate prize, fans of Croatia and Morocco arrived without quite the same excitement as before – there were still plenty of Moroccans here, but their enthusiasm didn’t seem quite as overwhelming, before the match at least.
The startling numbers of riot police stationed outside the stadium, batons and shields at the ready, were just standing around with nothing to do, despite additional measures introduced since the start of this tournament – now only those with tickets were allowed anywhere near the venue, perhaps a result of problems before Morocco’s games against Spain and Portugal. Then, security forces said that some arrived without tickets, leading to chaotic scenes outside the turnstiles.
Today, it was pretty quiet when FFT arrived, save for the hired entertainment, gamely making sure the show goes on. Latin performers danced away in front of pretty much nobody, a hundred yards from a Syrian traditional music group. A little further on, Bollywood dancers were sticking with it too, while a woman in a Colombia shirt seemed to be attempting some sort of karaoke performance. At least she made it to Qatar, even if her national team didn’t.
Generally though, the atmosphere outside the Khalifa was quiet enough to hear Micah Richards’ laughter at the media entrance from even further away than normal.
Before the start of this tournament, no one would have predicted this third place play-off – up there with South Korea versus Turkey in 2002 in terms of surprise fixtures at this stage of the World Cup, and perhaps Sweden versus Bulgaria in 1994.
When Croatia and Morocco first took to the field to the face each other at the Al Bayt Stadium 24 days ago, they did so in front of what was officially the largest amount of empty seats at any match at this World Cup.
True, official attendance figures have sometimes raised eyebrows at this tournament – full stadiums were sometimes recorded when large swathes of seats were clearly unfilled. Officially though, no game at this tournament had more empty seats than the 9,488 recorded that day. Global excitement was not high for Croatia vs Morocco in Group F, and by full time, that seemed to be justified – the match finished 0-0, with only four shots on target.
Unimpressed, the world quickly moved on – it was the least notable match that day, when compared to Japan’s shock win over Germany, Spain’s 7-0 thrashing of Costa Rica, and Belgium’s narrow win over plucky Canada. Yet it was Croatia and Morocco who made it to the last weekend of this World Cup, while the other six couldn’t muster a quarter finalist between them.
Pre-tournament, expectations were not great for either. Yes, Croatia reached the final of the last World Cup, but they’d gone out in the last 16 at Euro 2020.
Eleven months ago, Morocco were beaten by Egypt in the quarter finals of the Africa Cup of Nations. They haven’t reached the semi finals of that competition since 2004, losing to Benin in the last 16 in 2019. A year ago, they came to Qatar for the Arab Cup, and were beaten by Algeria in the quarter finals of that competition too.
By early this year, it was clear that there was discontent about national team boss Vahid Halilhodzic. Two of their most respected players, Hakim Ziyech and left back Noussair Mazraoui – then at Ajax, now with Bayern Munich – both missed AFCON because of a breakdown in relations with the Bosnian coach, who’d accused Ziyech of feigning injury to miss a match.
Young midfielder Azzedine Ounahi, one of his country’s break-out stars at this World Cup, was left out for the knockout stage of AFCON after Morocco only drew their final group match against Gabon.
Those three players have been the fundamental difference makers at this World Cup – the rest was pretty much the same team that lost to Egypt in January. Achraf Hakimi played, Bono played, Romain Saiss played, Nayef Aguerd played, Sofyan Amrabat played, Sofiane Boufal played, Youssef En-Nesyri played. Morocco still lost, without Ziyech and co, but also without the belief that they were capable of something bigger.
Halilhodzic remained after the tournament, and Morocco won both of their summer qualifiers for the 2024 AFCON tournament, before a change was finally made in August. Walid Regragui was appointed, with Ziyech and Mazraoui immediately returning, the former coming out of international retirement.
Not only were Morocco able to field their best team again, but Regragui gave them licence to dream, too, with no limitations on what was possible to be achieved. They were given little chance of making it through a group containing Belgium and Croatia, but ended up winning it.
By somehow battling their way past Spain and Portugal too, their spirit unmatched, many playing on with injuries for the sake of their nation, they stole hearts across the globe. They’ve played more World Cup matches in this tournament than they’d managed in total during the previous 28 years.
Curiously, for the second World Cup in succession, the third place play-off ended up being contested by two teams from Belgium’s group. This time, Belgium were not one of them. Few thought Croatia would get this far either, considered well past their peak after the heroics of 2018, a country of less than four million people that surely couldn’t go far again.
Manager Zlatko Dalic was respected for taking them to the final four years ago, but perhaps didn’t gain the complete worldwide admiration he deserved, particularly in light of his achievements once more at this World Cup.
Without the retired Mario Mandzukic, their attack looked unimpressive on paper, and centre back Dejan Lovren looked vulnerable at 33. But the Vatreni have surprised people twice before – the generation that reached the semis in 1998 shocked the world too, beating Germany 3-0 in the quarter finals, then the Dutch in the third place play-off. In Qatar, they were ready to do it again.
Having one of the best young centre backs in the world, in Josko Gvardiol, certainly helped. Yes, he was brilliantly befuddled by Lionel Messi for Argentina’s third goal in the semi final, but apart from that, the 20-year-old has been highly impressive at this tournament.
Croatia also still had what they had in 2018 – a midfield capable of controlling possession, and therefore controlling matches. Mateo Kovacic had replaced Ivan Rakitic in the first-choice line-up, but Marcelo Brozovic remained, as crucially did Luka Modric.
With five Champions League trophies to his name, plus now two World Cup semi finals, it’s hard to argue against the 37-year-old being one of the greatest midfielders of all time. Few players have ever been able to dictate a game quite like Modric – FFT were at the Millennium Stadium when he did exactly that in the 2017 Champions League final against Juventus, and it was a joy to behold. He did it again this May, against Liverpool in Paris.
Effectively, his achievements this year are just one victory short of those that earned him the Ballon d’Or in 2018, when he won the Champions League, then reached the World Cup final.
At this tournament, he also joined a new select group of just three men – only Dino Zoff and Peter Shilton had previously played seven matches at one World Cup, while aged 37 or above.
He may yet play on at international level until Euro 2024, but this, his 162nd cap for Croatia, seemed certain to be his final appearance at the World Cup, the tournament where he has twice shone so brightly. In 2026, his country will miss him badly.
Croatia and Morocco went about this tournament in very different ways – while the Croats attempted to control possession, Morocco were often happy to cede it, having just 23 per cent of the ball against Spain in the last 16.
Both teams went into this game with changed sides from the line-ups that lost in the semi finals – Croatia made five alterations to their team, Lovren and Brozovic among those dropping out, while Morocco were without Saiss and Mazraoui through injury, and Ounahi was on the bench.
FFT continued to be perplexed by the number of Uzbekistan flags dotted around the stadium – we spotted several at Morocco’s semi final against France, and seven in the stands for this match. No Kazakhstan, no Tajikistan, only Uzbekistan. Maybe they’re massive Hakimi fans.
There’s always a danger of a third place play-off feeling like a glorified friendly on the field as well as off it – no player grows up dreaming of playing in this match. By kick-off though, the Moroccans had arrived in force inside this stadium, again creating the sort of atmosphere that has made them one of the highlights of this tournament. They’ve had a great time, and they’ve been magnificent.
From the start of the match, they began to whistle in deafening fashion as soon as Croatia take hold of possession. If that was their plan, they were going to be doing an awful lot of whistling during this game.
Perhaps it was best that Morocco left Croatia with the ball – when they got hold of it for the first time themselves, Bono nearly scored the worst own goal in World Cup history, under no real pressure, slicing an attempted pass across his own goal-line, and almost into the net.
Within seven minutes, Croatia managed to put it in the net themselves, from one of the best set piece routines of the tournament – chipped into the box for Ivan Perisic to nod across goal and Gvardiol to head home.
Two minutes after Croatia’s number 20 found the net though, Morocco’s number 20 followed suit, as a set piece at the other end was deflected into the path of defender Achraf Dari, who did the rest, prompting roars of joy from the fans who’d travelled from North Africa.
Third place play-offs have historically often been more open affairs than the preceding knockout games – the pressure is off, the fear of a mistake reduced, and teams are free to express themselves. That looked to be happening here: in a rather more entertaining game than the group fixture between these two teams, and without the empty seats too, Croatia continued to push forward, with Andrej Kramaric seeing a header saved.
As a Mexican wave swept around the stadium, everyone was having fun – including the Moroccan fan sat near the press box who decided that midway through the first half was the perfect time to propose to his girlfriend. Thankfully she said yes, rather than “Not now, darling, I’m trying to watch the game”.
Modric was the next to be denied by Bono, although Ziyech – his country’s captain for the evening in the absence of Saiss – was showing some scintillating skills on Morocco’s right wing. The Moroccan version of the Icelandic thunderclap soon got another outing in the stands, led by a bloke at the front, conducting the crowd with his back to the action (did he not want to see the game himself?), plus a chap with a drum.
The drummer kept banging away despite Croatia moving 2-1 in front close to half time, as former Spurs conqueror Mislav Orsic – the wide man scored a hat-trick for Dinamo Zagreb to knock Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham out of the Europa League in 2021 – brilliantly curled a shot into the top corner from a tight angle.
Orsic almost had a second a minute after half time, rifling another shot into the side-netting. Morocco then lost yet another centre back to injury, as Dari limped off – there’s barely a fit defender left in the North African country at this stage.
Things started to get increasingly more fractious in the closing stages – Croatia were furious when Gvardiol went down and was denied a penalty, while seconds after Youssef En-Nesyri had a shot saved, Morocco felt they had a shout for a spot kick when Hakimi went to ground. This game might have only been for third place, but it really mattered to both teams.
En-Nesyri headed agonisingly over in injury time – defeat in a third place play-off always seems a little cruel on the side who end their tournament with two consecutive losses, like England in 2018, and that was how Morocco’s World Cup ended in Qatar, too. Ultimately, it was Croatia who took home the bronze medal, but both of these countries were winners at this tournament.
This, perhaps more than any other World Cup in recent memory, was the tournament of the underdog – from Saudi Arabia beating Argentina, to Japan beating Germany, to Tunisia beating France, to Japan doing it again against Spain, to South Korea beating Portugal, to Cameroon beating Brazil.
But none shone more brightly than Morocco – the first ever African semi finalists, conquerors of Belgium, Spain, then Portugal – and Croatia, the team that put favourites Brazil out of the tournament once and for all. This World Cup was richer for the both of them; more dramatic, more vibrant.
When the tournament returns in the summer of 2026, it will feature 48 teams, and be packed full of more minnows than ever before. Every one of them will take inspiration from what Morocco and Croatia have done at this World Cup. Between them, they’ve written stories that will be remembered for generations.
