The first semifinal of the ongoing World cup in Qatar is set to take place tonight between Argentina and Croatia. Argentina, led by their charismatic captain and arguably the greatest ever football player Lionel Messi is set to face off against Luka Modric’s Croatia.
Argentina started their World Cup journey with a shock as they lost to Saudi Arabia in one of the biggest shocks in the history of the tournament, before rebounding with wins over Mexico and Poland. They followed it up with victories over Australia and Netherlands, even if the latter one was via penalties.
Croatia on the other hand drew with fellow semifinalists Morocco, and Belgium, but defeated Canada in between powering their way to the knockouts. Once in knockouts, Croatia defeated Japan in a penalty shootout 3-1, only to meet the tournament favourite Brazil in the quarter-finals, who were again defeated in a penalty shootout.
Croatia, runners-up in the 2018 World Cup, are proving to be absolutely impossible to beat, and that is the task presented in front of Argentina if they want to give Lionel Messi the farewell that he desperately wants.
Luka Modric, the only one to win the Ballon D’or during the Messi-Ronaldo era, guided his country to the world cup finals in Russia in 2018, and at the age of 37, he is again leading his country to another historic final.
However, standing in Modric’s way is Lionel Messi, the greatest player to ever play the game. Since this is a team game, there is little Messi can do on his own once Modric and co run the game by dominating the midfield.
Either way, we will see one of the greats of the game bowing out from the greatest stage after the semifinal tonight. Whether it will be Messi or Modric, we find out later tonight.
