The semi-final matches of the 2022 World Cup will start on Tuesday evening, with Argentina facing Croatia at the “Lusail” stadium, in the penultimate step of the dream.
The first semi-final match will be played in World Cup 2022 Between Argentina and Croatia at exactly nine o’clock this evening, Tuesday, at the “Lusail” stadium.
The Argentine national team qualified for the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup, after a penalty shootout against the Netherlands smiled at it, 4 kicks to 3, after the 120-minute positive tie was settled with two goals for each team.
On the other hand, the Croatian national team snatched the pass to the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup after beating Brazil on penalties also after a draw with a goal for each team in the 120 minutes, and winning the penalty shootout with 4 kicks to two kicks.
Argentina vs Croatia.. Messi leads the tango dancers in the face of the warriors
Argentina vs Croatia.. the long breath match in the 2022 World Cup
Looking at the journey of the two teams in the 2022 World Cup before Argentina’s match against Croatia today, we will find that we are facing the two teams who have spent the most minutes in the tournament so far.
The beginning is with the Croatian national team, which reached the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup after reaching a penalty shootout in the round of 16 against Japan, then repeated the same scenario in the quarter-finals against Brazil.
Looking at the number of playing minutes that Modric and his companions played before the Argentina match against Croatia, we will find that the Croatian national team has played 556 minutes and 57 seconds since the start of the 2022 World Cup, as the maximum number of minutes for a team so far.
On the other hand, the Argentine national team reached overtime and penalty kicks in the quarter-finals against the Netherlands, but it passed in the original times against Australia in the round of 16 after beating it with two goals to one.
Messi and his companions played over the course of the 2022 World Cup before Argentina’s confrontation against Croatia, the number of minutes of play reached 550 minutes and 21 seconds, to be the second most playing team in the tournament so far.
556 – Croatia (556 min. 57 sec.), who went into extra time against Japan and Brazil, is the team with the most total minutes in #Qatar2022. @Argentina, despite the fact that he was alone with the Netherlands in the supplementary session, he follows him closely (550 min. 21 sec.). Additional. pic.twitter.com/tE8NWblUoe
— OptaJavier (@OptaJavier) December 13, 2022
The matter does not depend only on the career of the two teams in the 2022 World Cup, but that the Argentine national team achieved its last Copa America title after winning the semi-finals on penalties against Colombia after going through two extra periods.
Not only in the last Copa America, but Argentina, in its recent arrival to the World Cup final in 2014, played 3 additional runs against Switzerland in the round of 16, winning Di Maria’s goal in the 118th minute, before reaching a penalty shootout against the Netherlands in the semi-finals and smiling at her. Luck, before magic turned against the magician in the final and Goetze snatched the title for Germany in overtime.
As for the Croatian national team, it achieved its historic achievement in the 2018 World Cup, after winning the World Cup silver after losing the final against France, after going through extra rounds in all the tournament rounds except for the final.
The beginning was against Denmark in the round of 16 of the 2018 World Cup, to pass the Croatian national team on penalties, before repeating the same scenario in the quarter-finals against Russia in the quarter-finals.
The penalty shoot-out scenario did not stop at the quarter-finals, as Croatia completed their journey to the final after winning against England in overtime after Mandzukic’s deadly goal in extra time.
Thus, the Croatian national team has won 5 of its last 6 matches in the knockout stages of the 2022 World Cup, with extra runs and penalty kicks.
Thus, the history of the two teams before the Argentina match against Croatia paves the way for the possibility of continuing for 120 minutes and even reaching penalty kicks, a scenario that will not be far, given the background from which the two teams came to this role and even their history in previous versions of the tournament.