Argentina vs Croatia: Messi or Modric magic?

 

Two stars compete on two dominant teams when Argentina and Croatia battle it out to make it to the World Cup final on Tuesday.

Croatia was the runner up in the last World Cup when they lost to France in 2018. Argentina is playing with superstar Lionel Messi, who’s never won the title, for the last time. Argentina will be looking to reach the World Cup final for the sixth time, bettered only by Germany (eight times). The Albiceleste have never lost at the semifinal stage. 

Argentina and Croatia will face each other in the World Cup semifinals on Tuesday at 2 p.m. ET from Lusail Stadium. Both teams have extra reason to feel motivated to make it to the final (besides the fact that, you know, it’s the World Cup 

Lionel Messi and Luka Modric are two of the greatest soccer players to ever play in the World Cup, and now they will face each other as captains of their respective teams in a fight to make it to the World Cup final.

Messi has both scored and assisted in three different World Cup games - no other player has ever done so on four separate occasion. He has scored four goals in five games, and his assist to Nahuel Molina in their quarterfinals victory over the Netherlands was a thing of beauty.

“Mesi is an animal,” said an Argentina fan after their defeat over the Netherlands in the quarterfinals. “He is like wine, the year go by and he plays better. They can’t get it off him because the ball is tied to his feet.”

The last time Argentina reached the World Cup final was in 2014 when they lost 1-0 to Germany in Brazil. Messi, who will retire from international soccer after the tournament, faces his last chance to lift the trophy, once and for all. Of course, soccer teams are just that - a team. Even still, this Argentina team would look a lot different without Messi and I doubt very much they would be where they are without him.