The 2022 World Cup is drawing up to its big conclusion. Before the much-awaited final, though, came the one match in the tournament where both competing teams know they have no shot at the ultimate prize. The third-place playoff. In an intense match that held suspense and tension throughout, Croatia edged out Morocco 2-1. With so much happening, ESPN India attempts to pick out the one moment that defined the day's action.
For day 21, it's Mislav Orsic's magnificent winner: a goal that seemed to define what this game stands for.
When Mislav Orsic gets the ball, there's nothing on, really. Not immediately, anyway. It's the second-last match of the 2022 World Cup, and Croatia and Morocco have been going at it for the last 41 odd minutes. Tied at 1-1, it's been a proper cracker, the intensity as high as ever, the tackles flying in. What's been refreshing about it -- as it almost always is at this particular game, the third placed playoff -- is that the handbrakes are off.
Just before Orsic gets the ball, Croatia showcased their best football this tournament. A flowing move starting with the goalkeeper and ending with the right back inside the Moroccan box has gone through every Croatian on the pitch bar one: Orsic, who's holding the width on the left.
At the end of that move, Josip Stanisic (the right back) is blocked inside the box. But he squeezes it out Lovro Majer at the edge of the box on the right. The relentless Moroccan midfield closes him down immediately. As Bilal El Khannous starts to run out with it, he gets clattered into by Mateo Kovacic. The ball bobbles out to Marko Livaja, who swiftly moves it on... to the man holding the width on the left, at the edge of the box.
As the ball travels to Orsic, you're thinking he'll take a touch and chop back into the area to get a better angle. Or he'll keep it, draw a defender or two like he so memorably did against Brazil and set a teammate up. What he does do, though, is quite incredible.
While the ball is en-route, while he is en-route the ball, he looks up to see where everyone is. The well-drilled Moroccan defence seems to have the box covered, even in the chaos of the blocked transition. Yassine Bonou, Bono, the exceptional Moroccan goalkeeper is standing tall in exactly the kind of spot a goalkeeping manual would prescribe.
No manual, though, could have prepared Bono for Orsic's absurd, inventive interpretation of geometry. Without breaking his stride, Orsic runs onto it and stabs at it with the side of his right boot. The ball starts of on a trajectory that is taking it well wide, before curling just the right amount. It grazes Bono's index finger before slamming onto the far post and into the net.
Glorious.
Orsic is what they call a late-bloomer. If you haven't been following football outside the big leagues closely, you'd be forgiven for not really knowing much about him. Although a mainstay of the Dinamo Zagreb attack now at 30 (memorably knocking Spurs out of Europe with a hattrick, and scoring a winner against Chelsea, across the last two seasons), he had spent much of his career early on backpacking across the footballing world. Starting at a Croat club that's now been dissolved, he went to the Italian second division, Slovenia, South Korea and China before the club he had been a fan of forever had come a-calling. He's relatively new to the national team scene too. Before this game, he had had only one goal for Croatia (in the Euros against Spain last year). With his second, he gave his nation a third placed finish at the World Cup -- the match ended 2-1.
In this context, it was a significant strike, but in its inventiveness, it captured the essence of this game: that strange blend of regret and glory and pure footballing entertainment.
The tinge of regret came in the form of questions silently creeping into the minds of those who had seen that goal -- 'what if Croatia had gone on the front-foot in the semifinal? What if the creative, attacking talents of this team had been allowed the freedom to express themselves?' But it was washed away by the beauty of the goal, the glory that came with it: as the celebrations showed.
Finishing third in a competition that starts with 206 teams vying for qualification is an exceptional achievement; and Orsic gave the occasion the decorative flourish it deserved.