DOHA – The odds of winning World Championship might have played for Croatia and Morocco, but ‘immortality’ is at stake when the two sides meet in the third-place play-off on Saturday.
Croatia striker Andrej Kramarić refuted the notion that it would be a meaningless competition at the Khalifa International Stadium.
“I think if you ask Moroccan players that question, they won’t look like that,” he told a press conference on Thursday. “They are fighting for their lives because when you win a medal at a world championship you become an immortal hero in your country. That’s the same thing we’re going to do.”
Morocco defied all odds to become the first African team to reach the semi-finals of a World Cup. But the Atlas Lions’ run came to an end 0:2 against defending champions France On Wednesday.
Croatia reached the final in Russia in 2018, but suffered a 3-0 loss to Argentina on Tuesday.
“Eight of us from (the tournament in) Russia understand that feeling of winning a medal at the World Cup and we have a lot of players who haven’t experienced that and would like to do that because it’s something you remember will stay for the rest of her life,” Kramaric said.
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