The semi-final matches between Argentina and Croatia will be held in the Qatar World Cup on Tuesday evening, from 8 pm. As always, Lionel Messi can make the difference between the two sides, but for this the Argentines must first and foremost neutralize the Croatian midfield.
Argentina beat Poland, Mexico and Saudi Arabia to reach the knockout stages of the World Cup as group leaders, first beating Australia and then seeing off the Netherlands. The Argentines were much better than the Dutch in the quarter-finals, but gave up a two-goal advantage late in the game and eventually had to go to penalties. The same scenario would not have a happy ending against Croatia, who have won four of their last six consecutive World Cup matches on penalties and one from two 15-minute extra minutes.
So far, the South American national team has managed to score the first goal in all World Cup matches, but the Croatian national team has not scored in any of them. Argentina cannot – according to the banners – play football at a premium, while Croatia can only play at a disadvantage. Argentina squandered its superiority against Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands and Australia Emiliano Martinez The goalkeeper had to make a big save in the last minute with the score at 2-1.
The match against Poland is not reliable, because a 2-0 win in Argentina means both teams are ahead. So the 2-0 against Mexico still stands, as the opponent could not get back into the match. On the other hand, Croatia were at a disadvantage three times out of their five matches – against Canada, Japan and Brazil – but managed to win each time.
Before the quarter-final between Argentina and the Netherlands, we wrote how, based on the numbers, the South American national team was the favorite, and the picture of the match reflected what the data showed; According to Opta, the Netherlands were completely passive with the ball throughout the World Cup, scoring only seven times in the Argentine penalty area until the 76th minute, but six times after the 76th minute (but in regular time). The Netherlands only started playing football when they had no other choice (fun fact: in the 2 x 15-minute extra time, they only had one touch of the ball inside the penalty area). From the point of view of Argentina, a match similar to the Dutch match against Croatia can be expected.
Domination of the midfield will be the decisive point
We know what to expect from Croatia. In the quarterfinals against Brazil, the team showed the compactness of the Moroccan level. Without the ball, standing back in front of the goal, the team averaged 23 meters in length and 35 meters in width. So it will be almost impossible to find an area in the middle of the field for MessiBut the Croatian defense can be broken from both sides. However, for this Lionel Scaloni The captain of the national team must return to the four-guard system.
