Croatia beat Morocco to take third place at World Cup in Qatar
Croatia saw off Morocco 2-1 on Saturday night to claim third place at the World Cup in Qatar.
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Josko Gvardiol opened the scoring for Croatia in the seventh minute at the Khalifa International Stadium.
But within minutes it was all square after Achraf Dari headed home.
On the stroke of half-time, Mislav Orsic grabbed Croatia's winner.
"We achieved something major for Croatian football, skipper Luka Modric told Croatian broadcaster HRT.
"We wanted first place, we were close."
Modric, 37, ended speculation over his future after the victory when he revealed that he would stay with the national team during its attempt to win the Nations League next year.
Appearance
Croatia will feature next June in the four-team finals also featuring Netherlands, Italy and Spain.
"It would be a nonsense not to play in the Nations League," said Modric.
"And then we'll see how to proceed. I definitely want to stay for the Nations League."
Croatia lost 4-2 to France in the 2018 World Cup final and on Tuesday lost to a Lionel Messi-inspired Argentina in the 2022 semi-finals.
Despite the setbacks, Modric insisted that his team have cemented a place among the heavyweights.
Return
"In the end, we return to Croatia as winners," he added. "Croatia is not a miracle that appears every 20 years. We proved that we are constant, that we cannot be seen as dark horses but as a football power."
Morocco's reputation also rose during the 2022 tournament Walid Regragui's side were considered as cannon fodder with Canada when the draw for the competition was made.
But they emerged as pool winners after wins over Belgium - second in the Fifa world rankings and Canada as well as a draw with Croatia.
Regragui, who took over as national team boss in August, set his sights on next year's Africa Cup of Nations title.
"I said to the players in the changing room, if you want to go down in history then you're going to have to win that title," said Regragui. "We need to dominate our continent.
Evaluation
"We will take stock and all realise we've pulled off a fantastic achievement here in Qatar. We've earned a great deal of experience in a short space of time.
"We've gone further than expected but it's not enough. It needs to set an example for the future. There's going to be more pressure on us but hopefully there will be more African teams following our example.
"We've shown we can go toe to toe with top teams. Really very small details determine these games."
On Sunday, defending champions France take on Argentina in the final at the Lusail Stadium.
Both sides will vie for their third World Cup crown but France will be attempting to become only the third nation in the 92-year history of the competition to win back-to-back crowns.
France boss Didier Deschamps - already only one of three men to win the World Cup as a player and as a coach - will try to emulate Vittorio Pozzo who led Italy to successive World Cup triumphs in 1934 and 1938.
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