Croatia and Morocco have both named their teams for today’s World Cup third-place play-off in Qatar.
Aside from the obvious disappointment of missing out on the final, Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic‘s side have largely been free of injury concerns throughout their time in Qatar.
However, Celtic defender Josip Juranovic will miss the meeting with Morocco this afternoon after playing for 70 minutes with a calf injury in the semi-final defeat by Argentina.
CLICK HERE TO FOLLOW CROATIA VS MOROCCO LIVE!
While today’s game offered the chance to hand some of Croatia’s back-up options a run-out, another strong team has been named as they look to finish third in a World Cup for the second time, having first done so in 1998.
Luka Modric – who could well be playing his last World Cup game – is flanked by Mateo Kovacic in midfield, though Marcelo Brozovic was forced off against Argentina and misses out here.
Star defender Josko Gvardiol shakes off a foot issue to line up at the back alongside Josip Sutalo with Dejan Lovren out. Up front, Dalic chooses Andrej Kramaric over Bruno Petkovic as left-back Borna Sosa misses out.
Josip Stanisic and Lovro Majer both come in, as do Marko Livaja and Mislav Orsic. There is no Mario Pasalic either.
Morocco, meanwhile, have been decimated by injuries. Romain Saiss and Noussair Mazraoui were both taken off early in the semi-final loss to France after being risked following injuries and manager Walid Regragui had already confirmed there would be changes, with Nayef Aguerd a late scratch from the last-four lineup down to illness after recovering from an injury.
“We have a lot of players injured, we’re on our last legs,” Regragui said. “We want to win but I also want to allow players who haven’t played to go out there and show what they can do. We’re going to try to win but I have a lot of players who need to recover.”
Achraf Dari, Yahia Attiat-Allah and Jawad El Yamiq all continue to deputise in that Moroccan defence, with Bilal El Khannouss and Abdelhamid Sabiri also drafted in with Azzedine Ounahi not starting.
Croatia XI: Dominik Livakovic, Josip Stanisic, Josko Gvardiol, Josip Sutalo, Ivan Perisic, Mateo Kovacic, Lovro Majer, Luka Modric, Marko Livaja, Mislav Orsic, Andrej Kramaric
Morocco XI: Yassine Bounou, Achraf Hakimi, Achraf Dari, Jawad El Yamiq, Yahya Attiat-Allah, Bilal El Khannouss, Abdelhamid Sabiri, Sofyan Amrabat, Hakim Ziyech, Soufiane Boufal, Youssef En-Nesyri
