The semi-finals get underway on the 2022 World Cup with the conflict between Argentina and Croatia on Tuesday, December 13.
It will likely be the penultimate sport performed on the Lusail Stadium with the ultimate additionally because of be performed there on Sunday.
Daniele Orsato is the match referee. It’s the Italian’s third, and doubtless closing, sport of the match and his second involving Argentina after he was accountable for their 2-0 win towards Mexico within the group stage.
What time is Argentina vs Croatia?
The match kicks off at 10pm native time which suggests it is going to begin at 7pm within the UK and the protection can be proven on ITV.
Within the US, FOX and Telemundo can be displaying the match and kick off is at 2pm EST and 11am PT.
Argentina operates on a time zone three hours behind the UK so kick off there can be at 4pm whereas will probably be 8pm in Croatia.
Group information
Lionel Scaloni will definitely be with out two of his gamers for this one. Because of selecting up second bookings of the match within the final spherical, each Marcos Acuna and Gonzalo Montiel are suspended for the semi-final.
The health of Angel Di Maria and Rodrigo De Paul was a fear for the South People however their supervisor confirmed in his pre-match press convention that they might each be accessible for choice.
In the meantime, Alejandro Gomez has stepped up his restoration as he goals to be slot in time to play an element.
Yellow playing cards for Acuna and Montiel have dominated them out of the semi-final (Picture: Elsa/Getty Photos)
Scaloni’s reverse quantity, Zlatko Dalic, shouldn’t have any issues to take care of. The Croatia boss ought to have a full complement of gamers accessible for a second semi-final within the final two World Cups.
His massive resolution is available in assault the place there was an actual battle for objectives. Bruno Petkovic got here on and scored the all-important equaliser towards Brazil however he should should accept a spot on the bench.
Suspensions
Argentina: Marcos Acuna, Gonzalo Montiel.
Croatia: None.
Predicted line-ups
Argentina (4-3-3): (Emiliano) Martinez; Molina, Romero, Otamendi, Tagliafico; Fernandez, De Paul, Mac Allister; Di Maria, Messi, Alvarez.
Croatia (4-3-3): Livakovic; Juranovic, Lovren, Gvardiol, Sosa; Brozovic, Kovacic, Modric; Pasalic, Kramaric, Perisic.
The story to this point
Argentina have been flawless since their opening sport shock towards Saudi Arabia. Wins towards Mexico and Poland noticed them finally cruise by way of Group C earlier than assembly Australia within the final 16.
A late scare apart, they had been fairly comfy in that sport regardless of what the 2-1 scoreline would possibly recommend. They then seemed to be easing previous the Netherlands within the quarter-final with a 2-0 lead heading into the ultimate jiffy.
Nonetheless, a brace from Wout Weghorst (together with a objective within the eleventh minutes of stoppage time!) despatched the sport to extra-time after which penalties. Emiliano Martinez was the hero as he saved the primary two Dutch penalties within the 4-3 shootout triumph.
Speaking about penalties brings me properly onto Argentina’s opponents. Croatia’s document of taking, and successful, matches past the regulation 90 minutes is staggering.
They’d an actual behavior of it in Russia 4 years in the past they usually’ve executed similar in Qatar. After making it out of Group F with fellow semi-finalists Morocco, Dalic’s aspect beat each Japan and Brazil on penalties to make it this far.
The Europeans could be very happy to take Argentina to penalties given their standing as underdogs however either side have established fairly the popularity after extra-time.
Livakovic was the hero for Croatia towards Brazil (Picture: Alex Grimm/Getty Photos)
What’s at stake?
A spot within the World Cup closing.
In Croatia’s historical past, they’ve both made it this far or been eradicated throughout the group stage. They completed third in 1998 and second in 2018, can they go one higher this time round?
Loads of gamers on this Argentina staff additionally know the sensation of dropping a World Cup closing, they had been crushed by Germany in extra-time in 2014.
There’s hope for them heading into this one, although, as each time they’ve reached the World Cup semi-final of their historical past, they’ve gone on to achieve the ultimate.
Prediction
Argentina to beat Croatia.
Argentina to win: 51%. Croatia to win: 22%. Draw: 27%.
To progress to the ultimate: Argentina: 64%, Croatia: 36%.
All of our predictions for the 2022 World Cup are powered by Nielsen’s Gracenote, who’ve used a proprietary soccer rating system to estimate the probabilities of completely different outcomes for each attainable match by way of intensive simulations, to evaluate the possibilities for every staff to achieve completely different levels of the match.
Who’s more likely to await within the closing?
The opposite semi-final will see France and Morocco do battle at Al Bayt Stadium.
With out being demeaning to the north Africans, the present holders will go into that sport as heavy favourites and you would need to count on them to prevail.
Though, if this World Cup has taught us something, it’s to not relaxation on our laurels and Morocco will hope to spring yet one more shock towards Kylian Mbappe and Co.
Wider studying
Forward of this one, we’ve acquired a column from Slaven Bilic for you in addition to glorious items on how Messi is seen again house and the 2 goalkeepers who’ve change into synonymous with worldwide penalty shootouts. Take pleasure in!
(High photograph: Getty Photos)
