Monday, December 12, 2022 – 1:21 PM
.. From Ahmed Zahran.
ABU DHABI, 12th December, 2022 (WAM) — In the context of searching for the “last chance” for two distinguished generations, each of whom has achieved tremendous success in their football careers, the Argentine and Croatian national teams will meet tomorrow, Tuesday, in the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup, in search of a seat in the final match of the tournament.
The match represents a challenge of a special kind between the current generation of the Argentine national team, led by its famous star Lionel Messi, 35, who is competing in the World Cup for the fifth time in his history, and his Croatian counterpart, led by the famous veteran star Luka Modric, 37, who is still in the search for a major title. with his country’s national team.
Both the great players and a number of players of this generation are aware that the current World Cup may witness their last appearance in the World Cup and perhaps in major tournaments in general, and for this reason tomorrow’s match is part of the dream of the “last chance” to compete for the title.
The match is also considered a new and exciting challenge between European football and its counterpart in South America, after the current World Cup witnessed more than one challenge of the same kind.
For example, the Argentine national team reached the semi-finals after a very exciting match against its Dutch counterpart, which extended to extra time after a late Dutch awakening that snatched a 2-2 draw in extra time of the match, and Argentina did not decide the qualification card except through penalty kicks.
On the other hand, the Croatian national team overthrew in the same way (extra time and penalty shootouts) the Brazilian dream of achieving the sixth World Cup title, and Modric and his colleagues crossed into the semi-finals at the expense of Neymar and his companions in the Brazilian national team, to face a new test against the other giant of South America.
After the state of tension that dominated the atmosphere of the match against the Netherlands in the quarter-finals, the Argentine national team is looking forward to resolving the confrontation with its Croatian counterpart early and not waiting for the end of the match.
Messi is looking forward to overcoming the Croatian hurdle and renewing the dream of winning the World Cup title for the first time with his country, to crown a career full of achievements throughout his professional career, which has so far witnessed 1001 matches, many titles at the club level, and the title of the South American Nations Cup (Copa America 2021) with the Argentine national team.
The current version of the World Cup also saw more than one record for Messi, including equaling the record for the number of participations in the World Cup (5 copies) and equaling the record for the most Argentine players scoring goals in the World Cup (10 goals), equally with former star Gabriel Batistuta.
Messi also became the only player in history to make goals in 5 different versions of the World Cup.
And when tomorrow’s match starts, Messi (if he participates) will equal another World Cup record, which is the number of matches played by any player in the tournament (25 matches) and registered in the name of German legend Lothar Matthaus.
Messi can, of course, be the only one with this record if he participates in the next match for his team in the tournament, whether it is the final or the match for third place.
Messi can also be alone with another record for Argentina in the World Cup if he scores his 11th goal in the World Cup tomorrow .. knowing that he will enter strongly in this case in the top scorer race in the current version, where he will share the top scorer list with French Kylian Mbappe, with 5 goals each.
But these records come in the next place behind the desire of Messi and his companions, especially the other veteran Angel Di Maria, to reach the final, so that the team is one step away from the dream of regaining the world title, which has been absent since 1986.
On the other hand, the Croatian battalion, led by Modric, hopes to win the first World Cup title in the team’s history after the team’s experience succeeded in reaching the final of the last version of the World Cup in 2018 in Russia, and the team looks forward to repeating this through tomorrow’s match against the Argentine national team, armed with experience and high morale. Which he crossed the obstacle of the Brazilian team in the quarter-finals.
The match between the Argentine and Croatian teams tomorrow will be the third between them in the history of the World Cup, as the Argentine team won the first match 1-0 in the group stage in the 1998 edition, then the Croatian team won 3-0 in the group stage of the 2018 World Cup.
However, the Croatian national team is fully aware of the difference between these two previous confrontations and tomorrow’s match, which will be the first between the two teams in the knockout stages.
He also realizes the difference between the Argentine and Brazilian national teams, as the latter relied primarily on offensive capabilities that Modric and his colleagues succeeded in limiting their capabilities during the quarter-finals, but the Argentine national team is keen to build play and attack through the entire team.
Both the Argentine and Croatian national teams have some strengths and weaknesses that may play a role in tomorrow’s match.
The most important strengths of the Argentine national team are represented in Messi, his mental and technical reading, and his eagerness to achieve the title, in addition to this the strength of the defensive midfield position, which Rodrigo de Paul occupies, with the tactical flexibility of the team and the brilliance of his goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, especially in addressing penalty kicks and penalties.
But the heavy reliance on Messi is also a weakness for the team, because controlling him from the opposing team puts the Argentine national team in a real dilemma.
On the other hand, the team’s cohesion, nerve strength and self-confidence appear to be among the most important strengths of the Croatian national team, in addition to the strength of the team’s midfield, led by Luka Modric, along with Marcelo Brozovic and Mateo Kovacic.
It seems that the team’s lack of an outright scorer since Mario Mandzukic’s retirement is one of the most prominent weaknesses in the team.
Dina Omar / Ahmed Zahran