Croatia vs Morocco: Luka Modric says goodbye to the grand stage he made his own
Croatia’s Luka Modric waves to the fans after the match as Croatia are eliminated from the World Cup. (Reuters)
For an 11-year-long period up until 2017, the Ballon d’Or award – widely recognised as the highest individual honour in football – was shared between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. As modern football’s obsession with the duo – their rivalry, their fandom, their clubs, their brand of football – reached its peak, their hegemony over the coveted award was broken by Luka Modric.
Like much of the talented generation of players of his era, Modric was overshadowed by Ronaldo and Messi. But in 2018, even the starry duo’s most ardent supporters could not deny him his moment after playing a crucial role in Real Madrid’s third consecutive Champions League triumph, and leading Croatia to a surprise run to the final of the World Cup. (READ MORE)
Before big final, Morocco vs Croatia in ‘cruelest match’, the third-place playoff
Croatia and Morocco players will have to gather themselves up following the semifinal defeats to Argentina and France respectively for a 3rd place play off
Before the World Cup heads for the Lusail Iconic Stadium, a shimmering bowl amidst gleaming sky-risers on the outskirts of Doha, it stops at the Khalifa Stadium, the oldest stadium in the country refurbished with a dramatically swooping upper rim, nestled in the heart of the ambitious city. The world waits breathlessly for Sunday’s final between Argentina and France at the Lusail; the third-place playoff between Morocco and Croatia remains largely an afterthought, but not without stakes, context, or thrill.
By its sheer design, it’s a strange contest. Two teams with their title ambitions quashed, the semi-finals defeat still haunting and tormenting, the ifs and buts swirling in their mind, their dreams shattered, their tired bodies, still recovering, have to bury all those, the drain of both mind and body, to fight for a bronze medal, which could barely be a consolation when weighed with the immediacy of the semi-finals heartbreak. (READ MORE)
