Croatia was the runner-up of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. At the same time, the performance of the Croatian team in Qatar was excellent but could not break the maze of Argentina in the semi-finals. In the match, Croatia had no answer to Argentina’s strategy. The formation with which the Argentine team came to play in the match, the Croatian team did not work in front of it.
Diamond Formation of Argentina
When Argentina and Croatia took the field for the semi-finals at the Lusail Stadium, the wait was only to see which team would score the first goal to take the lead in the match, but very few people paid attention to the formation of Argentina, which allowed them to beat Croatia. Had landed on the field to destroy. For this match, Argentina knew very well that if they want to compete with Croatia’s defense and midfield, they will have to do something different.
This is the reason why Argentina changed their formation for the semi-finals, which was 4-4-2. In this formation, Argentina took the field with four defenders, four midfielders and two strikers. In football, this formation is also known as Diamond. In response to this Argentina formation, Croatia (4-3-3) fielded a team consisting of four defenders, three midfielders and three strikers. Despite this, he could not score a single goal in the match.
Argentina wreaked havoc with just two strikers
Lionel Messi and Julián Álvarez played as strikers for Argentina, who took the field with a diamond formation. In the first half, both these players were in full swing and in the 34th minute, Alvarez gave the team a penalty. Then what was the star player of the team, Messi, putting the ball in the goal post with his kick faster than the speed of the bullet, put Argentina ahead 1-0 in the match. Although the real game was yet to happen. 5 minutes after the first goal, Álvarez, who ran with the ball towards the Croatian camp, did not stop until he converted it into a goal. In this way, until a few minutes before the end of the first half, Argentina was now 2-0 ahead.
After the first half, when the Argentine team landed on the field, Messi had become more dangerous. The Croatian defender didn’t know how to stop them and finally got what they feared. In the 69th minute of the match, Messi took a brilliant pass to Álvarez, who beat a Croatian defender, and he fired the ball into the goal post with his brilliant touch to give the team a 3–0 lead, which lasted till the end.
Argentina in the final for the sixth time
Two-time champions Argentina have reached the final of the FIFA World Cup for the sixth time. With this, Argentina has also maintained its 92-year-old record in which it has never lost in the semi-finals. Whenever the Argentine team has reached the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup, it has always won.
However, after reaching the final, she has won the title only twice. Argentina won the FIFA World Cup in the years 1978 and 1986.
Source: navbharattimes.indiatimes.com
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