Argentina vs Croatia
Here it is, the biggest moment before the major decision - the match that will decide who is going to be present on the world’s biggest football stage, performing for the highest international prize. Two teams that fought very hard battles in the previous games. Messi or Modric, one of the two legends is going to lead his national team to the final and have the possibility of crowning a career full of success. Argentina: regarded as one of the favorites for this edition of the competition, Argentina started on the wrong foot, but their performances have been growing in quality since then. Despite a late dramatic finale against the Dutch, Argentina confirmed its presence in the semi-finals with a great performance in the penalty shootout, after demonstrating superiority in almost all the regular time. Croatia: the runners-up of 2018 are on the verge of achieving the final and, possibly, avenging their last defeat. Croatia, the team with the most minutes played in the tournament, has been showing great equilibrium during the matches and relentlessness in the penalty shootouts. They hope they can defeat another South-American top team after the gigantic result from last time. Let’s take a look into some of the main offensive and defensive indices of the two teams.
Offensively, Argentina has been creating a lot more than Croatia, topping on Shots, Shots on Goal, npxG, and, ultimately, Goals. They also have been showing higher reliance on possession, favoring a game style based on passing. This is evident in the higher number of progressive passes of Croatia, who play more vertically, being the least time in the opposition half. Although the possession is favored, the Argentinians also show better dribbling performances to agitate things up front, with a lot of quality in the squad for that matter.
Defensively, although Croatia has spent more time defending, conceded fewer goals. Their higher efficacy is shown in the higher number of blocks, clearances, tackles, and interceptions. Although they have similar figures on xG conceded, the number of saves is completely different and helps explain their results. Both keepers have stood out on penalty shootouts too.
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