WC 2022: The friendly

Croatia - Morocco 2-1

The third-place play-off has no real stakes. This is no more than a glorified friendly, a game that does not reward the victor, nor punish the defeated, and I don't remember any third place playoff for the past 32 years producing anything memorable. Bar perhaps Turkey's victory over South Korea in 2002, when most of the world felt the refereeing wrongdoings that have pushed South Korea into the semifinals were avenged.

Croatia - Morocco was no different, perhaps bar a very sweet look-upon by neutrals: these are both two very beautiful teams, the underdogs that no one expected to get this far when the tournament started and two teams that were both within touching distance of playing what would have been a much more interesting final.

It was a good game overall, marred by blatant refereeing mistakes. Look, we get it: these 'mistakes' sometimes have a purpose, I mentioned South Korea in 2002, and Argentina this year (or in 2014 for that matter) is no different. But come on Qatar! This game had no stake!

If it's a penalty, give them a penalty. Croatia should have benefitted from two obvious ones, which makes one question why the hell do we bother with VAR. Croatia won the game anyway, so these very poor decisions contribute to little else than to bury even further the reputation of Qatari football and of this World Cup which, we can all agree now, has not been one of the best. 

But, when all is said and done, many congratulations to both teams. Congratulations to Croatia which - no one can doubt it now - is a footballing superpower with an amazing track record, and the big trophies will probably be heading their way shortly. Congratulations to Morocco, their amazing passion and work rate, and their glorious fans. They have made history, they have pushed the boundaries of how high African teams can dream, and who knows? Maybe we will see an African team winning the World Cup soon.

Now on to the final, which is about to start, and in which I hope France will win comfortably. It will be tight, but I'm confident.

Ramenez la coupe a la maison...