Croatia national team beat Morocco 2-1 in the third-place play-off at World Cup in Qatar.

Goals for winners were scored by Josko Gvardiol on 7th minute and Mislav Orsic on 42nd, while the Africans answered with Achraf Dari’s goal on 9th minute. This is the second time Croatians won bronze medals, the first were got in 1998.

Dejan Lovren from Zenit St. Petersburg did not take part in the game staying on the bench. 33-year-old Croatian participated at third World Cup in international career. In Qatar Lovren played six full matches and earned an assist in Round of 16 match against Japan. Several former RPL players also made the squad, among them are Nicola Vlasic (ex-CSKA), Mario Pasalic (ex-Spartak Moscow) & Marco Livaja (ex-Rubin), also Vedran Corluka (ex-Lokomotiv) and Ivica Olic (ex-CSKA) were the assistants to head coach Zlatko Dalic.

Lovren became second RPL player to win World Cup medal. Previously Vedran Corluka, representing Lokomotiv, got the silver medal as runner-up of World Cup final in 2018.

Photo: HNS