The third-place match at the FIFA World Cup between Croatia and Morocco will take place on December 17 at the Khalifa Stadium in Doha. Kick-off is at 18:00 (Moscow time). Croatia vs. Morocco: prediction, betting odds, and World Cup 2022 match statistics.
Referee: Abdulrahman Al-Jassim (Qatar)
Matches – 14 (International matches, 2022);
Yellow cards shown (including second yellows) – 51;
Average yellow cards per match – 3.6;
Red cards shown – 0;
Average fouls per match – 21;
Penalties – 29%.
Croatia vs. Morocco: Lineups
Croatia: Dominik Livakovic, Josko Gvardiol, Josip Stanisic, Josip Sutalo, Luka Modric, Ivan Perisic, Mateo Kovacic, Lovro Majer, Andrej Kramaric, Mislav Orsic, Marko Livaja.
Morocco: Yassine Bounou, Achraf Hakimi, Jawad El Yamiq, Yahya Attiat-Allah, Achraf Dari, Hakim Ziyech, Sofyan Amrabat, Sofiane Boufal, Abdelhamid Sabiri, Bilal El Khannous, Youssef En-Nesyri.
Croatia
Goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic played a crucial role in Croatia's success at the World Cup in Qatar, saving four penalties in shootouts. It's also worth noting that Croatia pressed well and coordinated defensively, ranking among the top five teams in the tournament for average tackles per game – 11.5.
- Croatia will play in the World Cup third-place match for the second time in their history. The first, and successful, attempt to win bronze was in 1998 when Croatia defeated the Netherlands 2-1.
- In six matches at the 2022 World Cup, Croatia has won only once in regular time (4 draws, 1 loss).
- Moreover, Croatia has not lost in the first 90 minutes in 10 of their last 11 official matches (5 wins, 5 draws).
Morocco
At the World Cup in Qatar, goalkeeper Yassine Bounou played a key role for Morocco, becoming the first African goalkeeper to keep three clean sheets in a World Cup. It's also notable that Morocco, like their bronze-medal rivals, pressed actively throughout the tournament and ranked third in the World Cup 2022 for average tackles per game – 11.8.
- Morocco is the first African team to compete for a World Cup medal.
- Before losing to France, Morocco had not been beaten in regular time in 48 previous official matches (34 wins and 14 draws).
- In 6 of Morocco's last 7 official matches, the bet "Both teams to score – No" was successful.
Croatia vs. Morocco: Match Prediction
The upcoming opponents have already met in the group stage of the 2022 World Cup, ending their game 0-0. In that match, both teams played closed football. Overall, the teams progressed through the tournament primarily through pragmatism. Therefore, I expect them to play for the result in the upcoming match. I predict that we will see a draw in regular time. The teams are unlikely to take risks and may well take the game to extra time and then to a penalty shootout.
My prediction: Draw
