Let’s begin with some unambiguous honesty. For a long time, I’ve held the belief that the World Cup’s third place play-off matches are utterly pointless. If you’ve been knocked out of a competition, you shouldn’t get the chance to play again - especially in a game that big nations simply don’t care about.
Watching England’s second string play Belgium for the second time in 2018 was about as much fun as putting away Christmas decorations. It is a game that as far as I am concerned should have been scrapped long, long ago. But then you see Morocco and Croatia set to take each other on on Saturday and your heart is warmed. Opinions can change.
This third-place play-off doesn’t really work if it is made up of disappointed big guns. Nobody wanted to see Brazil take another beating at the hands of the Netherlands after their 7-1 humiliation of Germany. But when underdogs make it to the final four, it actually makes sense to give them the reward of another game, on the weekend of the final.
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Morocco didn’t quite do enough to make it to the showpiece event, but they certainly deserve a shot at earning third place. And their fans deserve another party, without the pressure of Wednesday night. They’ve been the standout underdog story of the World Cup, knocking out Spain, Portugal and beating Belgium in the group stage, so their story deserves a better finish than that disappointing loss to France.
Meanwhile, Croatia have been a great tournament team over the last two World Cups. Their extra-time heroics and never-say-die attitude that has been built under Zlatko Dalic has meant every single one of their games has been captivating. Nobody gave them a chance against Brazil in the quarter-finals and yet they came back from one goal down to win on penalties, with Dominik Livakovic writing his name in World Cup folklore.
They may have come second in Russia, but there’s an overwhelming feeling of disappointment when it comes to losing a final. Especially on the biggest stage. What the third-place play-off offers is a chance for them to end on a high, and get another World Cup win on their record.
They deserve the feeling of winning something, even as seemingly ‘insignificant’ as third place. You don’t ‘win’ second place at a World Cup, but you can win third. More to the point, for these two countries, outside the big nations, it is momentous. When Croatia, a nation of less than four million people it must be remembered, reached the semi-finals for the first time in 1998, they secured third with a famous win over The Netherlands.
No matter who you're rooting for, it was remarkable to watch how much this team has been able to achieve.
That Dutch side featured Edwin van de Sar, Edgar Davids and Patrick Kluivert but the legendary Croatia outfit, led by Davor Suker, secured a 2-1 win to round off their fabulous journey. It was a fitting end to that tournament for Croatia and they were heralded in their homeland for that third place finish.
Four years prior to that, we saw another cracking third place play-off between two unfancied nations, as Sweden thumped Bulgaria at the Rose Bowl. The 91,500 in attendance that day set a record attendance for this game and gave Henrik Larsson’s side the chance to end on a win, after they came so close to beating eventual champions Brazil in their semi-final.
Both Morocco and Croatia deserve the chance to celebrate one final day, and it’s also the chance for some of the star names of this team to say goodbye. Top of the cast list is none other than Luka Modric. The Ballon d’Or winner hasn’t yet confirmed that he will retire from international football, but at 37, this will definitely be his last World Cup.
Signing out with a win rather than a semi-final hammering will be a fine way for him to wave goodbye to the World Cup and Croatia could secure their third top three finish in 24 years. For Morocco, this will be one last party in Qatar and a chance for the side that has thrilled the world to make one last mark. They are the only African side in history to make the final four, now can they secure third to cement their legacy?
It’s a game that is well worth watching and could even warm the cockles of this bitter individual who wanted to see this fixture wiped off the face of the planet.
