Argentina-Croatia: from “Maradona’s settlement” to Messi’s first goal, history and background between the two teams

Hours before the World Cup semi-final Qatar 2022 face the hard Croatia, the sixth presence of Argentina In this case, a review of the background between these two selections.

The story isn’t very extensive, also because the Ajedrezados became independent from the former Yugoslavia in 1991 and were only admitted by FIFA in 1992, but it has some unforgettable chapters. They have met five times and the balance marks total equality: two victories for the albiceleste, two Croatian victories and a draw.

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1 – The day Maradona and Davor Suker fixed a draw

The first clash between Argentina and Croatia was in June 1994 in Zagreb. Coco Basile’s team was preparing to play the World Cup in the United States and had just returned from a long journey, while the Croatians, whose team had been admitted by UEFA when the European Qualifiers had already begun, would not play that World Cup.

“I remember Boban, Suker, Bilic and the blond from Real Madrid, Prosinecki. They had a great team and we came home dead from the away game and we had to play the next day,” he began to tell Oscar Ruggeri, headline that day, in an interview with Diego Forlán for Fox Sports.

“Diego (Maradona) knew Suker because they played together in Sevilla. There were meetings everywhere on the pitch and we said ‘let’s not attack each other if we are dead’. And we decided not to attack.”the Cabezon confessed. The result, an inevitable 0-0.

2- In France 98′, first World Cup crossing

In the 1998 World Cup, Argentina and Croatia were placed in Group H and played each other in the last round. Both won their first two games against Japan and Jamaica then They arrived classified until the last day.

It only remained to define who passed as first and second in the round of 16. In that context, walkway put in an alternative team and the albiceleste took the 1-0 victory with a goal from the defender Maurice Pineda.

​It was Croatia’s first World Cup appearance, as they reached the semi-finals and lost to France before winning the third-place match against the Netherlands. Argentina, meanwhile, fell in the quarter-finals, precisely against the oranges, with Dennis Bergkamp’s remembered goal and Burrito Ortega’s header against goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar which earned him his expulsion. Davor Suker was the tournament’s top scorer with six goals, one more than Gabriel Batistuta.

3- A very special friendly match

In January 2006, with the World Cup in Germany just around the corner, Argentina and Croatia faced each other in a friendly match that leaves two situations that from a distance become points of reference for each of the two teams.

on one side, Lionel Messi’s first goal with Major, today top scorer of the Albiceleste with 95 goals; of the other, the debut of Luka Modric, the one who has played the most games for his national team (This Tuesday it will reach 161 PJ).

The result, just an anecdote, was 3-2 in favor of the European team. Three goals in the first six minutes: Klasnic on 3′, Tévez on 4′ and Messi’ on 6′ for Pekerman’s men to make it 2-1 at the Par Lescure stadium in Bordeaux. Then came Darijo Srna (52′) and Dario Simic (90′) to establish the final figures.

4- A new friendly

After the world second place in Brazil 2014, In November of that year, the national team already coached by “Tata” Gerardo Martino faced Croatia in a friendly match played on the West Ham field.

The great performance of Messi, who assisted Cristian Ansaldi for the 1-1 partial and put the final penalty for 2-1, and the flags of the English fans for Carlos Tévez, a big step for the home team, were the highlight on a cold day in London.

5- In Russia, a day to forget

If the relationship between Argentine footballers and the coach George Sampaoli was not the best, after the second date of Russia 2018 it ended up breaking. The team fell short, lost 3-0 and were on the verge of elimination in the group stage. Against Rebic, Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic, the Croatian goalscorers at the Nizhny Novgorod stadium.

Then, the albiceleste saved himself from a historic failure after beating Nigeria and being favored by Croatia’s victory over Iceland. In that World Cup, Argentines and Croatians fell to the same rival and title winners, France: respectively 4-3 in the round of 16 and 4-2 in the final.

One of them will come face to face with Didier Deschamps’ men, in the final or in the third place match, to take revenge for what happened four and a half years ago.