With goals from Lionel Messi and Julian Alvarez in each half, Argentina breezed through Croatia 3-0 in their World Cup quarterfinal matchup at Lusail Stadium. Even though Croatia were the better team in the first half, goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic hauled down Alvarez as the Manchester City striker tried to raise the ball over him for a scoring opportunity.
WorldCup22 is back with yet another rundown of all the highlights in the semifinal match between Argentina and Croatia. Don’t forget that we continue to provide a free livestream so there’s no excuse for you to miss any match until we reach the conclusion of this world stage.
The Rundown: Argentina vs Croatia
Messi smashed his penalty into the top-right corner, tying him with Kylian Mbappe for the Golden Boot lead. Before this game, Livakovic had saved penalties in shootout victories over Japan and Brazil.
After that, Alvarez fervently pushed through a disorganized Croatia backline on the offensive to increase the lead, and then Messi tormented Josko Gvardiol with a looping move before setting up Alvarez for his fourth of the competition in the 69th minute.
Messi has scored five goals in the World Cup, surpassing Gabriel Batistuta as Argentina’s all-time leading scorer. Then, he’ll have one final shot to join the ranks of soccer legends like Diego Maradona and win the coveted gold trophy. If our current World Cup betting odds 2022 prove anything, it is that he is one of the clear top goalscorer favorites, too.
Luka Modric, another all-time great, plotted a different path to gold on the field on Tuesday, leading Croatia to a controlled early start. However, their lack of cutting edge was finally exposed by Argentina’s lethal front two.
Alvarez got onside thanks to Dejan Lovren’s carelessness, and Livakovic tackled him as he pushed for the goal. Messi’s penalty kicks have never been his greatest strength, but he rose to the occasion and scored his 11th World Cup goal.
Calchin, Cordoba’s pitches were the womb from which the second goal emerged, just as the first had been the product of countless hours of practice on posh training grounds. After a short corner by Marcelo Brozovic was blocked, Alvarez took possession near the halfway line. When Nahuel Molina made a blazing run down the wing, it threw off Croatia’s defenses and left Alvarez to finish the game on his own, with the help of a few bursts past Josip Juranovic and Borna Sosa.
One of the main highlights of the World Cup 2022 livestream is that Messi nearly scored twice, exchanging passes with Enzo Fernandez to force a fantastic save from Livakovic at his near post, but he still had one more bit of magic to gift Alvarez a 2nd goal that was much easier to score than his first.
Player of the game: Lionel Messi
In the first half, Croatia dominated play at the Lusail Iconic Stadium, and Messi was largely unnoticed as he strolled across the field waiting for his teammates to wake up.
Just after the interval, Alvarez won a penalty that completely changed the momentum of the game. Argentina’s Alvarez beat the Croatian defense with an easy ball over the top, but he was taken down by Livakovic as he tried to advance the ball.
The Argentines were awarded a penalty kick, and Messi went up to the line to convert it, just as he had in the previous round against the Netherlands.
Croatia, who had looked so formidable up until that point, seemed to lose their composure and dealt another blow 5 minutes later when Alvarez overcame two obstacles in the area after bringing the ball from his own half and poked a controlled finish past Livakovic to make it 2-0.
Just outside the penalty area, Alvarez calmly slotted in his second goal to become the youngest player to ever net a goal twice in a World Cup semi-final or final since Pele in 1958.
On Sunday, in his final World Cup game, Messi will have a chance to capture the only prize he is still lacking. You can check all the remaining schedules on our World Cup 2022 fixtures Singapore time page.
Argentina v Croatia final score
| Team | 1H | 2H | Final |
| Argentina | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Croatia | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Messi and Julian Alvarez scored as Argentina defeated Croatia 3-0 at the Lusail Iconic Stadium to get to the World Cup final. This coming Sunday, they will play either France or Morocco. You can back Argentina and the remaining teams at the World Cup with Solarbet’s free World Cup bets and other exciting offers!