Thank you so much for joining me today as we get ready for what promises to be an absolutely rollercoaster night, kicking off in less than two hours now. Gosh. Scott Murray is on MBM duties for us tonight, and he says:
Lionel Messi wants to put those GOAT arguments to bed by single-handedly dragging Argentina, Maradona-style, to the top of the world. Luka Modrić, one of only two players to break the Messi-Ronaldo Ballon d’Or duopoly of the last 14 years, dreams of another masterclass in overachievement with four-million-strong Croatia. In a few hours, one of our 35 and 37-year-old superheroes will be smacked flush in the face with the realisation that their World Cup dream will almost certainly remain unfulfilled for eternity. Tears before bedtime are nailed on.
I will see you here again tomorrow for the news and buildup to France v Morocco. Until then, stay safe, and I hope you have a great time watching the match. Go and join Scott over here …
Jacob Steinberg is in Doha for the Guardian, and he has written this analysis ahead of tomorrow’s second semi-final, saying that France have mastered art of winning, but tireless Morocco will set new traps:
On Wednesday night France face a conundrum: how to breach opponents who will give them the ball and trust in the tournament’s best defence to hold firm. Morocco, the first African side to reach the semi-finals, stand in their way and are likely to take some budging. The underdogs will be roared on by thousands of supporters at Al Bayt Stadium, where a hostile atmosphere is bound to test the courage of the France players, and they are surely not going to open up now. Entertaining neutrals is not Morocco’s priority. They have played eight and a half hours of football, faced three penalties in their shootout win over Spain and still the only goal they have conceded came when Nayef Aguerd put the ball into his own net against Canada.
Patience, as the France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris acknowledged, is going to be key. Part of the problem for the world champions is that Morocco, supremely drilled by Walid Regragui, are effective. They will look to their brilliant right-back Achraf Hakimi to set aside his friendship with his Paris Saint-Germain clubmate Mbappé. There will be responsibility on the tireless Sofyan Amrabat to pin down Griezmann, who was so impressive against England, and Bono to perform more wonders in goal. They will be praying that Aguerd, Romain Saïss and Noussair Mazraoui are fit to play in defence, and that they are not too weary after beating Portugal 1-0 in the quarter-finals.
But Morocco, who topped a group containing Belgium and Croatia, will also look to lure France into a trap before springing forward on the break. As Lloris pointed out, they have a strong midfield and creative threats from Hakim Ziyech and Sofiane Boufal. Youssef En-Nesyri, who scored the winner against Portugal, is a dangerous runner up front. “They’re not just good in defence,” Deschamps warned. “They wouldn’t have reached the semis if they were just a defensive team.”
Read more here: Jacob Steinberg – France have mastered art of winning but tireless Morocco will set new traps
We are probably still about an hour away from team news, but the kits are out at the stadium. I’ve zoomed in, but sadly nobody appears to have left a team sheet hanging around.
The stadiums for the World Cup semi-finals open to fans a mere four hours before kick-off. You could cram in a lot of Bud Zero before a match, couldn’t you? But that does means we already have some joyous scenes of anticipation building at the Lusail ahead of a Croatia v Argentina match that just seems impossible to call. Will it be Messi’s destiny or Croatia’s absolute point-blank refusal to lose knockout matches in 90 minutes that prevails?
On a more sombre note we are also getting images from the Lusail stadium of books of condolence that have been set up for three journalists who have died in Qatar while covering the tournament: ITV technical director Roger Pearce, Qatari photojournalist Khalid al-Misslam and US soccer journalist Grant Wahl.
Moroccan FA distributes unsold tickets for France semi-final to fans for free
Hundreds of Moroccan fans waited outside Al Janoub Stadium on Tuesday for a chance to score a free ticket to the country’s World Cup semi-final game against France, AP reports.
The tickets were given out by the Moroccan soccer federation in coordination with Fifa and the Qatari organising committee.
“We bought the rest of unsold tickets in the stadium and we distributed them to our fans,” Moroccan federation president Fouzi Lekjaa said. “They are here in Qatar and they have only one desire – to see the national team.”
Fans outside Al Janoub stadium said they had been waiting for several hours. Some camped out with blankets and chairs and took turns sleeping on the ground. Many plan to support the team in Qatar even if they can’t get a ticket.
“We are just going to rely on God. We wish from the bottom of our heart that tomorrow’s game goes well,” Moroccan fan Mohammed al Hmaemi said. “We hope that our national team wins. We do not have tickets, so we are just going to stay outside and cheer for them.”
Moroccan fan Hasnae Belazzeyz said the wait was worth it: “It’s more than a dream, it’s incredible. It’s a national pride. It is historical.”
Upamecano and Rabiot both miss training for France
Reuters reports that defender Dayot Upamecano and midfielder Adrien Rabiot are both doubtful for Fracne’s World Cup semi-final against Morocco after missing collective training on Tuesday.
Centre back Upamecano and Rabiot, who suffer from a cold, are on light training indoors, the French federation said. Upamecano had already missed Monday’s training session.
Should they be ruled out, Ibrahima Konaté would be expected to start at centre back while Youssouf Fofana would be most likely to be alongside Antoine Griezmann and Aurelien Tchouameni in midfield.
France have been out training today ahead of tomorrow’s second semi-final, where they face Morocco.
Ghana’s Football Association (GFA) appears to be having a moment. They have just issued a press statement threatening to sue unnamed people who they claim have been making defamatory statements against the national team following the early exit from Qatar. In part the statement reads:
Following the exit of the senior national team, the Black Stars from the on-going Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022, the GFA issued a statement dated 2 December 2022 (same day of the third match). We apologised to the general public and all stakeholders and also indicated that we will continue with the positive lessons going into the future.
The GFA has since kept an open mind and continue to listen and receive comments, suggestions, and ideas from well-meaning Ghanaians both home and abroad for the improvement of the team.
Unfortunately, the GFA has noticed that a few persons are deliberately maligning and defaming the GFA and the Black Stars brand in an attempt to manufacture a nonexistent scandal about the team.
The GFA has therefore instructed its lawyers to institute legal action against persons who defame the Association, its officials, products and destroy the Black Stars brand as well as the media platforms used to do same.
I must confess one of the highlights of the group stage for me was the last ten minutes of that Uruguay v Ghana match where both teams knew they needed goals to avoid going out and appeared to both be working on the premise that they might as well go all out attack.
Away from the men’s World Cup for a moment, this weekend in England we saw the last action in the Women’s Super League until after the winter break. Faye Carruthers rounds up the final, weather-hit action in 2022 alongside Suzanne Wrack, Flo Pollock and Tim Stillman in Women’s Football Weekly.
Fifa have a breakdown today of some of the records that Lionel Messi is equal to or close to. They include:
Messi has made 24 World Cup appearances – one short of the record held by Lothar Matthaus
Messi and Rafa Marquez have made a joint-best 18 appearances as captain in the World Cup
Messi could break Paolo Maldini’s record for the most minutes played in the World Cup (2,217) if tonight’s match goes into extra time
Gabriel Batistuta and Messi are Argentina’s joint-leading marksmen in the World Cup on 10 goals apiece
Miroslav Klose has played in 17 World Cup victories. Messi is currently on 15
This World Cup has been slightly duller for the absence of Zlatan Ibrahimović, who you imagine would liven up even the most glittering of spectacles. Thankfully, never shy of coming forward, he has had some things to say about Qatar.
Firstly, he thinks Argentina are going to win the whole thing. “I think it’s already written who will win, and you know who I mean. I think Messi will lift the trophy, it’s already written,” Ibrahimović said.
Secondly, he hasn’t been totally surprised by Morocco. “I don’t think it’s a surprise because I knew they were good before the World Cup. Then obviously in the World Cup everything can happen,” he said. “That they reached the semi-final, maybe a little surprised, but remember it’s a good team, a good nation. And these surprises I think the people like; they enjoy because they want these things to happen so they get some kind of extra adrenalin.”
Thirdly, he said he wasn’t really in any position to give Cristiano Ronaldo any advice after Portugal’s captain made a lonely tearful exit down the tunnel following Saturday’s defeat to Morocco. “I think it’s not important what I can say. I mean everybody wants to win the World Cup; not everybody gets to win the World Cup,” said the Swede, who has been capped 121 times for his country. “Everybody is trying and if you don’t win it obviously you’ll get emotional, if you win it, you get also emotional in a different way.”
Have I mentioned the officials for the semi-finals yet today? I don’t think I have.
For Croatia v Argentina it is the Italian job. Daniele Orsato has the whistle, and his compatriots Ciro Carbone and Alessandro Giallatini will be running the line. Mohammed Abdulla of the UAE is the fourth official. You can insert your own conspiracy theory here about Fifa appointing Uefa officials to a semi-final that features a European team. Orstao was in charge of the opening match between Qatar and Ecuador, and previously refereed Argentina in their group game with Mexico.
Tomorrow, Morocco v France will be officiated by César Arturo Ramos of Mexico. His assistants will be Alberto Morín and Miguel Hernández. They have already been in charge of Denmark v Tunisia, Belgium v Morocco and Portugal v Switzerland. The fourth official is Jesús Valenzuela from Venezuela.
Let us just say that my lunchtime walk in the London snow was more popular with some members of the party than others.
There is very little danger of snow affecting play in Qatar today, with temperatures expected to be around 21C (69.8F) for kick-off tonight between Argentina and Croatia in the first semi-final. We are already getting some pictures through of fans gathering ahead of travelling to the stadium.
Martin is back from lunch now so I’ll hand back to him. Thanks.
The body of journalist Grant Wahl has been repatriated to the United States following his death while covering Argentina v Netherlands in the quarter-finals, the State Department has confirmed. Wahl was a passionate advocate for football/soccer in the United States in both the men’s and women’s game. He brought a critical eye to the World Cup in Qatar and football in general, reporting on human rights and LGBTQ+ issues and standing up for those without a platform. He wrote for Sports Illustrated for more than two decades and then started his own website. He was a major voice informing the US public about the game during a time of increased interest after the US hosted the 1994 World Cup.
Tributes to Wahl have poured in since his death, with the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken adding his voice to the chorus of appreciation.
I so appreciated Grant Wahl, whose writing captured not only the essence of the beautiful game but also the world around it. I send my deepest condolences to his family, and thank our embassy team and Qatari partners who worked together so effectively to fulfill their wishes.
The Associated Press reports that State Department spokesman Ned Price said the US had no reason to believe Wahl’s death was the result of foul play and praised Qatari authorities for fully cooperating with the embassy in arranging the repatriation. “We have seen no indication of foul play or anything nefarious at this point,” Price told reporters in Washington.
Rest in Peace, Grant.
Updated
There has been much debate about the format of World Cup 2026, which will be a bloated 48-team tournament when it kicks off in the three-and-a-half years time in the USA. It’s the result of more meddling by Fifa, but world football’s governing body is likely to row back on plans for three-team groups after Gianni Infantino claimed Qatar had hosted the greatest group stages of all time. But that still means many groups will have a third qualifier, thus giving rise to the probability of less excitement in many of the final group games. Jonathan Wilson argues that if the reason for a 48-team World Cup is to make it more global why not create a final global round of qualifying for a 32-team finals, thus preserving the current format. It’s an interesting read – and one you may have missed at the weekend.
I know Guardian Towers has its own cartoonist and all, but I’ve always been a fan of the work of the No Score Draws crew (formerly known as @Cheappanini). If you’re willing to apply yourself you can still do great things, such as these drawings of Nikola Vlasic and Ivan Perisic.
Woah pic.twitter.com/pUvDTRKDAF
— No Score Draws ✍️ (Alex & Sian - BOOK OUT NOW!) (@CheapPanini) December 9, 2022
Though my favourite at this World Cup is still probably Allison Becker:
Omg pic.twitter.com/IDfygW2dqK
— No Score Draws ✍️ (Alex & Sian - BOOK OUT NOW!) (@CheapPanini) December 9, 2022
It’s all for a good cause, too:
🇦🇷 v 🇭🇷 tonight, PLUS it’s DAY 24 of our quest to fill all 670 slots in the 2022 World Cup Panini album with our own drawings, to raise money for @amnesty
— No Score Draws ✍️ (Alex & Sian - BOOK OUT NOW!) (@CheapPanini) December 13, 2022
511 down
159 to go
£2170 raised
If you can, DONATE! ⬇️ If you can’t, an RT would be lovely xhttps://t.co/eoVntK07p7 pic.twitter.com/q2U01bsEU2
Updated
Thanks Martin. In this morning’s World Cup briefing Michael Butler points out that stopping Luka Modric, not Lionel Messi, may be key to shifting the balance of this evening’s semi-final. I’d very much agree with this but the current Croatia midfield is more than just Modric and is such an unbelievably well-grooved unit. Modric, Mateo Kovacic and Marcelo Brozovic are always shifting shape and seem to know instinctively where each other will be at any time.
They’ve played together a good while I suppose. They’re all technically excellent and combative, as many Croatian midfielders have been down the years. There must be something in the water. Zvonimir Boban, Niko Kovac, Ivan Rakitic have been a joy to watch over the past three decades but, for me, the best was Robert Prosinecki, a ridiculously gifted footballer who played like Paul Gascoigne and Zinedine Zidane had been spliced together in a lab experiment. I remember my youth football coach at Marine FC in the mid-90s imploring us to watch him. I’m not sure how this was supposed to help us because we couldn’t learn how to do impossible things with a football. I’m glad he did though. Football seemed to be one big joyride for Prosinecki.
Y Prosinecki llegó a Barcelona con Cruyff. #InformeProsinecki pic.twitter.com/K6lk2bKw1K
— Fútbol en Movistar Plus+ (@MovistarFutbol) December 13, 2022
Updated
I’m going to hand you over to Gregg Bakowski now for a bit while I take a break and get over-excited about it being semi-final day.
Aleksandar Holiga writes for the Guardian today to set up tonight’s semi-final from the Croatia perspective:
It is quite a ridiculous idea. To come to the World Cup, four years after making it to the final as one of the best underdog success stories in the tournament’s history, thinking you could go one step further this time and win the whole thing. This is football after all, the No 1 global sport, not handball or water polo, the other two team sports Croatia are any good at.
In those two sports the competition is much narrower and you also get a chance to win the world championship every year. It is not the Davis Cup either, which they have managed to win twice in the last 17 years, with two different generations of players.
If you are a small nation, the best you can normally hope for in football is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play in the World Cup semi-finals or final. Many good teams from much bigger nations never get that opportunity, but here we are in 2022 with Croatia set to play in their third semi-final in less than a quarter of a century. What’s more, they are not satisfied yet.
“In 2018 we wrote history, but now we want to repeat that,” the captain Luka Modrić told Marca after beating Brazil on penalties in the quarter-finals. “I hope we can make that extra step this time.”
Read more here: Aleksandar Holiga – ‘We are built differently’: Croatia relish second shot at World Cup glory
Argentina and Croatia also met in Bordeaux in the 1998 World Cup. It was their final match in Group H, and both sides had already guaranteed they would qualify after both securing victories over Japan and Jamaica.
Argentina won 1-0 with a lovely goal by Mauricio Pineda. There were some amazing players on both sides – Javier Zanetti, Ariel Ortega, Gabriel Batistuta, Slaven Bilić, Davor Šuker, Zvonimir Boban, Robert Jarni and more. There are some highlights here if you’ve got a couple of minutes to spare.
Argentina’s win set up their round of 16 tie with England, while Croatia would go on to face Romania and Germany before losing out to hosts France in the semi-final. Argentina made it to the quarter-finals that year before being undone by Dennis Bergkamp and the Dutch in Marseille.
The last time that Croatia and Argentina met at a World Cup was matchday two in Group D in Nizhny Novgorod. 43,000 people watched Croatia humble la albiceleste 3-0 with Ante Rebić, Ivan Rakitić and that man Luka Modrić on the scoresheet. Croatia are obviously hoping for more of the same today.
— HNS (@HNS_CFF) December 13, 2022
In another brief “not football” interlude, AP reports that a Spanish court has acquitted Neymar and his fellow defendants in a fraud and corruption trial related to the Brazilian’s 2013 transfer from Santos to Barcelona.
The plaintiff, Brazilian company DIS, had accused Neymar, his father, and the former presidents of Santos and Barcelona of having intentionally hid the cost of his transfer to avoid paying DIS what it was due as the partial holder of his player rights.
However, the court said in a statement Tuesday that “it has not been proven that there was a false contract or that DIS was intended to be harmed.”
The verdict is not a surprise after a decision by Spanish state prosecutors to drop all charges during the trial. That left only the lawyers of DIS to continue arguing their case.
Effortlessly making everything I ever write look instantly less funny and with a lot fewer drawings to it, a new David Squires has dropped …
It would not be a France press conference ahead of France v Morocco without *checks notes* a question about England. French captain Hugo Lloris has apparently backed Harry Kane to bounce back from his penalty disappoint against France.
To be honest, I’m not really sure what else Lloris could be expected to say, he is hardly going to declare that he expects it to haunt Kane to the grave and start laughing maniacally while twirling a comedy villain moustache is he?
Anyway PA sport quotes him saying:
We had a text after the game. But it was not easy to find the words straight after the game. I think he needed some rest. It’s a difficult time obviously for the English national team and for Harry but he can be proud for what he’s done for the national team during this World Cup.
In football history many top players missed important penalties in their career. Players like Leo Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, like Kylian Mbappé. But I have no doubt Harry will keep his chin up and he will help Tottenham and the national team to shine.
Fortunately, some of the media also asked Lloris about Morocco, to which he said:
I believe that both teams have plenty to lose. It’s a semi-final of a World Cup, it’s a unique opportunity to go to the final.
Obviously it’s already a success for Morocco to be at this stage of the competition but, believe me, they won’t stop, they just want to carry on and to become even more heroes for the Moroccan country.
In our side, we prepare for the demands of a semi-final of the World Cup, it doesn’t matter who is the opponent. We just try to put the focus, the energy, the concentration and all of our strength into this game to make sure we will not have any regrets at the end.
If you missed today’s World Cup briefing, you also missed my look at what is going on in Argentina’s media in the buildup to tonight’s game:
No media outlet can overlook an omen going into a World Cup semi-final, and Argentina’s press is no different. Olé is slightly concerned that to avoid a colour clash with Croatia’s shirts, Emiliano Martínez “will be all in green and will not wear the historic red shirt with which he became a hero against Louis van Gaal’s team”. However, the sport journal notes that “Dibu (Martínez’s nickname) wore green in the decisive matches against Mexico and Poland, two duels in which La Scaloneta beat their respective rivals 2-0.”
The Buenos Aires Times says Argentina have been helped by “hordes of travelling fans that have transformed each of their matches in Qatar into virtual home games”. It says: “That passion is evoked in two songs that have regularly reverberated around Qatar’s stadiums – ‘Vamos Argentina’ and ‘Muchachos,’” a de facto national anthem of the national team which name-checks Messi, Diego Maradona and the 1982 Malvinas/Falklands war between Argentina and Britain. “Argentina is a complex, politically fractured country. There are few subjects that unite the country – but the Malvinas and the football team do,” it quotes Edgardo Esteban, director of the Malvinas Museum in Buenos Aires as saying.
In Clarín the talk of the town remains firefighters in Esquina, the home town of Diego Maradona’s mother, who listened to Argentina progress against the Netherlands while actively fighting a fire. One of them, 27-year-old Roberto Cardozo, told the press: “When we got to the field, the owners were waiting for us and we went in to fight the fire. When I returned to refill the water, my girlfriend sent me a WhatsApp message notifying me of Argentina’s first goal. I let my teammates know that we were winning. We even filmed ourselves at the moment Messi scored the penalty to make it 2-0 because we already had the situation under control.” Lionel Scaloni’s men will hope they similarly have Croatia under control at the Lusail tonight.
Read more here: World Cup briefing – Modric, not Messi, could be the man to stop
In tomorrow’s semi-final, French fans will be largely outnumbered by the Morocco supporters at the Al Bayt stadium and France know they are in for a noisy night, as coach Didier Deschamps and captain Hugo Lloris have said at this morning’s press conference.
“They’re benefiting from a huge support, I’ve seen this and my observers have told me about. We know it’s going to be extremely noisy, it’s part of the context and we’ll have to be ready for it,” Reuters reports Deschamps told the news conference on Tuesday. “Good for them. We have to prepare for the game, but also for the environment of the game.”
Lloris said: “We’re going to have to be ready for the noise. I admire and respect what they’ve done here, they owe nothing to chance, they finished top of their group,” said Lloris.
“They have a lot of qualities on and off the pitch, in terms of cohesion. The environment will be hostile but we’re getting ready, calmly. We’ll have to be ready to up our level one more time.”
There are a few more quotes from Morocco’s coach Walid Regragui on the wires via Reuters, and he has said that his team do not have a specific plan to counter Kylian Mbappé tomorrow. He said:
I am not going to try and set up any particular tactical plan to counter Kylian. France also has other good players. Griezmann is on top of his game and playing well between the lines and Ousmane Dembele is also a perfect complement to Mbappé on the other wing.
If we just focus on Mbappé that will be a mistake. They are world champions, with world class players and they will be going for it with all they got. We need to focus on what we can do to cause problems for France.
Mbappé, on the left of the attack, goes up against Paris St Germain club mate and close friend Achraf Hakimi, who is Morocco’s highly-rated right back.
“Achraf knows Mbappe better than me and trains with him on a daily basis, so he’s better placed than I am to know how to deal with Kylian. Hakimi is one of the best players in the world, so it’s going to be a great duel between the two,” Regragui said.
One worry for Morocco and their fans is the number of injuries that the side have picked up en route to the semi-final.
Morocco were still struggling with “a lot of injuries” said the coach, but players were recovering. There are concerns over the first-choice centre back pairing of skipper Romain Saiss and Nayef Aguerd in particular.
“We have an excellent medical team and they have been coming with good news. But we will have to wait until the last minute to select the team. None is out yet, but no one is in either,” he said.
Morocco have so far faced European opposition at this World Cup in Croatia, Belgium, Spain and Portugal without conceding a goal, and Regragui defended his side’s tactics.
“What good is 70% possession if you only get a few shots on goal?” he asked.
“Everybody’s working, everybody is giving their best in every way and we play a collective game every time with a good spirit, which for me is everything in football.
Coach Didier Deschamps and captain Hugo Lloris are the France media duo again today in Doha it appears.
Meanwhile, I do enjoy the random pictures that come over the newswires ahead of a big football match. They will be dancing in the patriotic bakeries of Zagreb tonight for sure if Croatia progress.
Anita Asante writes for us this morning on the topic of Olivier Giroud, who she says continues to thrive beneath the radar for France:
Against England, we saw the full benefits of Giroud. France were not at their best. In some ways we’ve been spoiled by some of the French teams over the years with players such as Zinedine Zidane, Marcel Desailly and Claude Makelele, teams and players against which this side will always be measured. Anytime we think of France, we think of the flair, the fluidity of play, the elegance, the finesse. We saw glimpses of that on Saturday, but we didn’t see it in large doses.
However, they did show they can get things done when they are not at their full, flying best. We still saw majesty from Mbappé on the ball and the intelligence of Antoine Griezmann dropped into that midfield role while Adrien Rabiot looked another level, dictating the linkup between defence and midfield and into the forward line. But the strengths and qualities of a forward such as Giroud, when things aren’t going your way as a team, were fully on show.
We shouldn’t underestimate the work he does to be on the defenders’ case with his movement and his positioning so that they do not get a moment’s rest. That is extremely tiring and frustrating because they constantly have to be switched on to his whereabouts. The mind is constantly racing: Where is he? Who’s got him? Is he in between us? Here he is now. He’s stretching the game. We can’t squeeze that space because what about this space?
Read more here: Anita Asante – Traditional No 9 Olivier Giroud continues to thrive beneath the radar for France
Updated
I missed one of the Asian teams out of that round-up. That is partially because I am old enough to remember when Australia were part of the Oceana confederation, and partly because we already have our own specific standalone story about Graham Arnold, who is set for a Socceroos contract offer after their World Cup success:
Socceroos coach Graham Arnold appears set to be offered a fresh contract as informal negotiations continue with Football Australia hierarchy. Arnold’s previous deal expired after overseeing Australia’s most successful World Cup at the tournament in Qatar.
The head coach is holidaying in the United Kingdom, with FA chief executive officer James Johnson keeping in contact ahead of Arnold’s return to Australia after Christmas. Johnson has pledged to not sound out any other potential coaching candidates before Arnold returns.
“We are in touch with Graham about what his involvement over the next four years will look like,” Johnson told AAP. “Sure, having some stability with this team, given the rise, is a good thing and we will talk to Arnie about that.
“We won’t talk to others until we have finished talking to Arnie. But ... we have got to be realistic, Arnie’s value has increased but so has the Australian game, and the Socceroos ... let’s see where we land, but I must say I am very proud of Graham.”
Under Arnold, the Socceroos won two games at a single World Cup for the first time and advanced to the round of 16 for only the second occasion, following the feat of the 2006 squad. Arnold has yet to indicate his future intentions.
Read more here: Graham Arnold set for Socceroos contract offer after World Cup success
What now for the coaches of the Asian teams at the Qatar World Cup? John Duerden at the AP has a round-up:
South Korea: Paulo Bento leaves Seoul after more than four years in charge. He took the team to the second round after a last-minute win over his native Portugal in the last game of Group H, but his tenure ended with a 4-1 loss to Brazil.
“Although we were eliminated in the Round of 16, we still stuck to our style of play against a powerful team,” said Bento, who added that he’d decided in September to move on after Qatar. “I will always be connected with South Korea, both in terms of my career and my personal life.”
The domestic football debate has already moved to whether the next head coach will be a Korean or a foreigner.
Japan: Japan beat Germany and Spain to top its group and progress to the knockout stage of the World Cup for the fourth time, but the Samurai Blue was disappointed not to reach the last eight for the first time, however, losing in a penalty shootout to Croatia.
Coach Hajime Moriyasu, appointed in 2018, confounded critics who thought he was too conservative to guide the team to great success. It is expected that the 54-year-old Moriyasu will continue after he told reporters upon returning to Tokyo that he wants to stay in the job longer, and the team received a hero’s welcome on their return.
Iran: Carlos Queiroz was only appointed in August, and may also stay. Iran beat Wales but could not get a point against the United States in the last Group B game to advance to the knockout stages.
“Now we have to think about supporting the technical staff and Queiroz and think about the players and their spirit,” Hamid Sajjadi, the Minister of Sports and Youth, said after the Iran squad returned home. “Queiroz should be able to plan for the next Nations Cup with peace of mind, and we will do whatever we can to help.”
Saudi Arabia: Herve Renard signed a contract extension in May to remain in charge of Saudi Arabia until 2027. After the Green Falcons’ shocking 2-1 upset of Argentina, and coming close to a place in the last 16, Renard is safe in the Saudi job.
Qatar: The worst performing of the Asian teams in Qatar was the host nation. Felix Sanchez was the longest serving coach of the six, taking the reins at Qatar in 2017, but he recorded three losses on home soil. “Our goal is very clear, we will have a generational shift,” Sanchez said. “Some players will leave, others will come.”
It already seems to be happening. On Monday evening, the Qatar Football Association named a new-look roster for the regional Gulf Cup in January with Bruno Pinheiro, a former coach of Qatar’s youth teams, in charge.
Morocco coach Regragui: 'We aren't satisfied with the semi-final. We want to go further'
Morocco’s coach Walid Regragui has been up before the press already today, and he has said they are aiming higher than just reaching the semi-final. PA Sport is carrying the following quotes:
The further you get, the more difficult the games are. We are playing the world champions with world-class players and a very good coach, possibly the best in the world. But we will show great desire and try to pull off an upset. Why not reach the final of the World Cup?
We’ve come to this competition to change mindsets within our continent. If we say the semi-final is enough, I don’t agree. We aren’t satisfied with the semi-final and being the first African team to do that. We want to go further.
Its’s a knockout game and when you have desire, commitment and the support of the crowd, you can win it.
We have beaten some top sides. Before every match people thought we would get knocked out but we are still here. We are getting closer to our dreams and we will fight to get there.
We are one of the four best teams in the world now and we want to reach the final. The best team, Brazil, is already knocked out.
We are hungry. I don’t know if it will be enough but we want Africa to be on top of the world. I know we are not favourites but we are confident. You might think that’s crazy, but a bit of craziness is good.
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has said centre back Harry Maguire had a really good World Cup and urged him to replicate his England form at the club when the Premier League restarts, Reuters reports.
Maguire lost his first-team spot for United in August but the 29-year-old started every game for England in Qatar, where they were knocked out in the quarter-finals by France.
“It’s clear he is good enough to play at the highest level,” Ten Hag said at United’s training camp in Spain.
“He had a period in Manchester where he performed badly and then, of course, there are difficulties. For England, he has good games almost all the time. We want him to bring that back to Manchester with him so he can bring it on the pitch for United.
“I think he had a really good World Cup. He was really consistent. When he is playing with his confidence like now, he is a massively important player for us and that is what everyone expects.”
Away from the football for a moment, AFP reports that the lawyer for Greek member of European parliament Eva Kaili on Tuesday said his client was “innocent” after she was charged with corruption in a probe into suspected bribes from Qatar.
Belgium has charged four suspects including Kaili as part of an investigation into allegations World Cup host Qatar has been handing out cash and gifts to influence EU policy debate. Two others were released after questioning.
“Her position is she is innocent. She has nothing to do with Qatar’s bribes,” Kaili’s lawyer Michalis Dimitrakopoulos told Greek television channel Open TV.
Belgian prosecutors said €600,000 euros (£516,000) were found at the home of one suspect, €150,000 at the flat of an MEP, and several hundred thousand euros in a suitcase in a hotel room.
Asked if any cash was found at Kaili’s home, Dimitrakopoulos said: “I am not confirming or denying. There is confidentiality. I have no idea if money was found or how much was found.”
Kaili, a 44-year-old Greek socialist and one of the European parliament’s vice-presidents, was detained in Brussels on Friday.
She has been stripped of her vice-presidential responsibilities and parliamentary group leaders are to meet Tuesday to prepare a vote to formally remove her from the post.
She is remanded in custody and will face a hearing on Wednesday to see if she and three fellow accused will need to remain in detention pending a corruption trial.
Croatia’s social media manager is having fun this morning – and why not? They are in a World Cup semi-final again. They’ve put up a poll asking who is going to win. And the options are Argentina, Croatia, and Croatia on penalties.
Have your say! Who is going through to the #FIFAWorldCup final? 🗳️#ARGCRO #Qatar2022 #Vatreni❤️🔥
— HNS (@HNS_CFF) December 13, 2022
Are Croatia even in a tournament knockout match if it doesn’t go to extra time and penalties? Their record is stunning in that regard. Ed Aarons reports on how Dominik Livakovic is ready to repeat his heroics against Argentina:
Livakovic – the son of Zdravko Livakovic, a former state secretary of Croatia’s ministry of transport – made his debut for Dinamo’s first team in October 2017 having previously played for amateur side NK Zagreb. Two years later, he broke a record that had stood for more than 20 years for most minutes from the start of Dinamo’s season without conceding a goal.
Livakovic was Subasic’s deputy at the 2018 World Cup as Croatia made it all the way to the final in Russia before losing to France. “Everything was particularly emotional,” he said in an interview a few months later. “Apart from the result, which is the biggest in the history of Croatian football, the emotions that stuck in my memory the most during the last World Cup in Russia were the moments when our passage depended on penalties. It’s something that can hardly be described in words: I was yelling, laughing and crying at the same time.”
Read more here: Ed Aarons – Dominik Livakovic ready to repeat heroics against Argentina
Not just any match day, say Croatia, it is an epic match day. I honestly cannot wait for either of these semi-finals and I just cannot call who we will be seeing in the final on Sunday.
Not just any matchday.
— HNS (@HNS_CFF) December 13, 2022
An epic matchday.
The #FIFAWorldCup semifinals.
Let's do this, #Croatia! 🙌#Qatar2022 #Family #Vatreni❤️🔥 pic.twitter.com/MagqaM22OT
Talking about being sarcastic about things, I did feel yesterday that I was maybe being a little bit disparaging about the Fifa technical study group briefing that took place, and appeared to be some kind of “Death by PowerPoint” event. Barney Ronay, on the other hand, is in Doha and decided to go at it overnight with a high two-footed tackle:
These occasions are part of the treadmill of Big Football events. Qatar 2022 has hit its last, choreographed deep breaths, the bridge before the final push. It is now time for the football version of those moments in The Office where we watch the printer trays whirring, blank sheets loading, something to feed the machine between the beats.
This is when we get the Fifa Technical Study Group media briefing, there to fill the empty air with words. The job here, like everywhere else, is to reinforce and justify every aspect of this World Cup. Pascal Zuberbühler was basically talking about how successful he thinks Fifa’s new rules about staying on the goalline are. Earlier Zaccheroni had hymned the “technical” effects of five subs and masses of extra time.
Nothing is bad in this room. Everything is good, better, progress. At some stage everyone on stage parroted the (arguable) line that this World Cup is a showcase for emerging powers – because, of course, this is a way of selling the expanded version next time out.
Read more here: Barney Ronay – Welcome to Fifa’s Technical Study Group: nothing is bad, everything is good
Preamble
Hello! Football is back! Briefly. This evening. There are only three competitive fixtures of the Qatar World Cup to go, and one of them is tonight. Strap in for Croatia v Argentina at the Lusail for a place in Sunday’s final. 7pm GMT.
A Messi-driven Argentina will be looking for their sixth final appearance and his last chance to lift the trophy. For Croatia, a team who remarkably have never failed to reach at least the semi-finals if they manage to get out of their group, it is a chance for a second successive final, and possible redemption against France for 2018’s 4-2 defeat.
As well as the buildup to that, we should also have media appearances from the France and Morocco camps, more speculation about the future of England’s Gareth Southgate, probably a little bit of club football gossip creeping back in, and me being sarcastic about things. Drop me a line at martin.belam@theguardian.com.
