Morocco’s Youssef En-Nesyri scores against Portugal during their quarter-final match at Al Thumama Stadium, on Saturday. REUTERS
Doha: After four dramatic quarter-final match-ups, the semi-finalists at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 have been confirmed as defending champions France, Argentina, Croatia and Morocco continue their quests to claim football’s most prestigious prize.
History for the African continent, Messi magic and penalty shootouts are among the talking points as we highlight some of the stats and facts that stood out in the last-eight fixtures.
Incredible Croatia
Having only competed in their first FIFA World Cup in 1998 after gaining independence in the early 90s, Croatia have now reached the semi-finals three times in six appearances.
The Croatians marked their debut campaign 24 years ago by reaching the final four and then finishing third before making it all the way to the final last time out. Four years on, after defeating Brazil on penalties, they are back in the semi-finals once more.
Creative genius
And, of course, he’s not just scoring them. Messi has now assisted seven goals in FIFA World Cup matches and five in knockout round games, the latter a record since such data started being collected in 1966.
The Argentina captain threaded an inch-perfect ball for Nahuel Molina to open the scoring against the Netherlands, adding to assists he claimed in the knockout rounds in 2010, 2014 and 2018.
Penalty kings
Croatia made it to the 2018 FIFA World Cup final on the back two penalty shootout victories and an extra-time win over England before ultimately losing to France in the final in Moscow.
And a similar trend is happening this time round as both Japan and Brazil have fallen on penalties in the first two knockout rounds. In all five of those matches, the Croatians have come from a goal down as they continue to display a never-say-die attitude.
Extending the lead
Olivier Giroud broke Thierry Henry’s goalscoring record for France in the previous round when he took his tally for Les Bleus to 52. His winner against England means the AC Milan striker now sits on 53.
Giroud appeared in all seven matches of France’s title-winning campaign in 2018 but didn’t register a single goal. With four in the current edition – one behind teammate Kylian Mbappe and level with Messi – he remains in contention for the Golden Boot.
African joy
Morocco have become the first team from Africa to ever reach the FIFA World Cup semi-finals after edging Portugal 1-0 in a tense affair at Al Thumama Stadium on Saturday.
Cameroon, Senegal and Ghana had all fallen at the quarter-final stage in previous editions but the Atlas Lions finally cleared the hurdle with their hard-fought win.
Brazil’s European woe
Since being crowned world champions in 2002, Brazil have fallen to European opposition in every edition since, with the Selecao failing to beat any nation from Europe in the knockout rounds in that time.
France (2006), the Netherlands (2010), Germany (2014), Belgium (2018) and now Croatia have all ended the five-time champions’ dream of winning title number six.
No way past
Morocco may have started without two of their regular back four in defence and ended with only Achraf Hakimi on the pitch after Romain Saiss was withdrawn with an injury but, incredibly, an opposing player has still yet to score past them this FIFA World Cup.
In five games, Nayef Aguerd’s own goal against Canada remains the only time goalkeeper Yassine Bonnou (pictured) has been beaten as the Atlas Lions have kept clean sheets against Croatia, Belgium, Spain and Portugal.
Messi equals Batistuta
Lionel Messi’s penalty against the Netherlands was his 10th goal at the FIFA World Cup, adding to goals he scored in the 2006, 2014 and 2018 editions.
The Argentina captain, who has four in the current campaign, has now drawn level with Gabriel Batistuta at the top of his country’s FIFA World Cup scoring charts.
