Croatia Finish Third At Qatar 2022 After Beating Morocco Thanks To Mislav Orsic Wondergoal

Croatia 2-1 Morocco

Mislav Orsic scored a superb winning goal as Croatia beat Morocco to finish third at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Croatia beat Morocco 2-1 on Saturday in the penultimate game of Qatar 2022, which was the 22nd third-place playoff in World Cup history.

Defenders Josko Gvardiol and Achraf Dari netted early goals at a full Khalifa International Stadium before Orsic's looping stunner in the 42nd minute.

Players from Croatia pictured celebrating during their victory over Morocco in the third-place playoff at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar

IMAGO/Pixsell/Goran Stanzl

The game will be remembered by many as Luka Modric's last ever appearance at a World Cup.

Modric, 37, was typically busy in the center of the pitch and had 83 touches of the ball - no Croatia player had more.

But he was arguably outshone by another experienced Croatian.

Ivan Perisic, 33, made more key passes than any other Croatia player - three, including his assist for Gvardiol's opener.

Perisic has now been directly involved in 11 goals at the last three World Cups. Only Lionel Messi has been more prolific during this period.

Qatar 2022 was only Croatia's sixth World Cup.

They also finished third at their first tournament when they beat Holland 2-1 in the playoff at France 1998.

Croatia came second at Russia 2018 when they lost to France in the final.

Saturday's game was the 22nd third-place playoff in World Cup history.

Argentina won the first by beating the USA in 1930.

Six teams have finished third at the FIFA World Cup more than once, including Croatia, Brazil, France, Sweden and Poland.

The only team to finish third on more than two occasions is Germany, who won the playoff in 1934, 1970, 2006 and 2010.