5 Tips for Saturday’s World Cup Third-Place Play-Off - 17/12/22

On Saturday, Croatia faces Morocco in the third-place play-off at the FIFA World Cup, while Argentina and France go head to head in the final on Sunday.

Luka Modric will be keen to impress once again, especially with his nation being so reliant on his world-class midfield play. The 37-year-old has created two big chances so far at the World Cup and tends to take his side’s set pieces.

Lionel Messi is the top scorer at the World Cup, having scored five goals in six matches. On top of this. The 35-year-old has also created three assists.

Sofyan Amrabat has been superb at this tournament and will be looking to impose himself upon the Croatia midfield. The Fiorentina man has averaged 2.2 fouls per game and has been shown one yellow card so far.

Argentina defender Nicolas Otamendi has received two yellow cards at the World Cup, with both of these being in back-to-back matches against the Netherlands and Croatia.

Morocco midfielder Hakim Ziyech has scored 19 goals in 49 matches for his country. So far at the World Cup, the 29-year-old has scored one goal and created one assist.

As mentioned above, combative midfielder Amrabat has received one yellow card, doing so in the Atlas Lions’ 0-0 draw with Croatia in the group stages.

Meanwhile, in Croatia’s 3-0 loss to Argentina, there were a total of six corners taken in the match, with the European side having four of them. In Morocco’s 2-0 loss to France, there were a total of seven offsides.

Zlatko Dalic’s men have only managed to score two or more goals once in this competition when they demolished Canada 4-1 in the group stages thanks to goals by Andrej Kramaric (2), Marko Livaja and Lovro Majer. However, it must be mentioned that in the knockout stages they have faced the likes of Japan, Brazil and Argentina.

Argentina have scored two or more goals in all of their last five matches since their shock 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia in their World Cup opener. Notably, France conceded five corners against England, while Morocco faced nine Portuguese corners in the quarter-finals. On top of this, the French were shown three yellow cards against the Three Lions, while the last time the Atlas Lions accumulated 20 or more booking points was against Portugal.

Tottenham Hotspur winger Ivan Perisic has had four shots on target at the World Cup and will hope to add to the one goal he has bagged at the tournament here.

Talismanic figure, Modric, will likely be playing his final World Cup match here and will be keen to bow out in style. The 37-year-old Real Madrid midfielder is yet to score or make an assist at this tournament, but, has created two big chances and averages 0.8 shots per game. Modric has managed 23 goals and 25 assists for Croatia across his international career.

There were a total of six corners in Croatia’s 3-0 semi-finals defeat to France last time out. The last time Morocco were shown 20 or more booking points was in their quarter-finals victory over Portugal following two yellow cards and a red card being shown to substitute striker Walid Cheddira.

Ziyech will be a player to look out for in this match, having scored one goal and created one assist in six matches at the World Cup. The 29-year-old’s only goal of the competition came from outside the penalty area in Morocco’s 4-1 win over Canada in their final group game.

Ex-Ajax man, Ziyech, has scored 19 goals in 49 appearances for his country and will be keen to put himself in the market for a move away from Chelsea in January having only played 148 minutes of Premier League football so far this campaign.

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