Croatia Hurdle for Messi as Argentina Gun for Final Ticket 

Argentina’s Lionel Messi is one of only six men to have played in five World Cups alongside Antonio Carbajal, Lothar Matthaus, Rafa Marquez, Andres Guardado and Cristiano Ronaldo. The petit argentine ‘bomber’ has made 24 World Cup appearances – one short of the record held by Lothar Matthaus 

Today, if Messi makes the expected start as the Albiceleste take on Croatia in the first semi final of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar here this evening, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner would have matched Lothar’s record. Another appearance in the final (or the third placed match, as the case may be), will make Messi surpasses all the others and become the record holder. But that personal honour will not be what Messi will be looking for to make his football career fulfilling. The former Barcelona forward will want to go beyond this stage and win the only missing item in the CV of his sterling football career: a World Cup medal! 

The first semi-final brings together two teams that reached the last four with dramatic penalty shoot-out victories, Croatia overcoming Brazil before Argentina knocked out the Netherlands. 

The teams are evenly matched historically, both in terms of matches overall, with two wins apiece and one draw, and at the FIFA World Cup, with one group-stage victory each. Argentina prevailed 1-0 in 1998 while Croatia claimed a 3-0 success over Lionel Messi and co. in 2018, with Luka Modrić among the scorers. The nations have not met since that match in Nizhny Novgorod. 

Speaking ahead of today’s game in a pre-match conference here yesterday, Argentina’s Head Coach, Lionel Scaloni, underscored the difficulty of facing the Croatian national team in the semifinals of Qatar 2022. 

He said that it is expected that the match will be difficult against a capable team that includes good players and plays total football, which is different from the meeting of the 2018 championship, adding that there is no comparison here because the situation is completely different. 

He admitted that Argentina played against the Netherlands the way they wanted well in a match that saw difficult situations and the refereeing was fair. 

Scaloni explained further that they were not surprised by the high quality with which the national team played in that match. 

He reiterated that their goal is to play each match individually and focus on each game, insisting that their target is to win today and reach the final where anything is possible. 

Meanwhile, Argentina’s bid for a third World Cup crown is being boosted by hordes of travelling fans that have transformed each of their matches in Qatar into virtual home games. 

According to the Argentine embassy in Qatar, between 35,000 and 40,000 fans have travelled to the World Cup to support the team, one of the largest contingents of overseas supporters at the tournament. 

That sizeable support has been augmented by thousands of Qatar-based migrant workers from India and Bangladesh, where Messi and Argentina enjoy widespread support. 

Argentine football venues are renowned for their seething intensity and those kinds of scenes have been recreated regularly at Doha’s Lusail Stadium, where tens of thousands of Argentine fans have created a raucous wall of blue-and-white-shirted sound. 

Argentina have already played three games at the glittering 88,966-seat arena, where Messi and his team-mates will battle Croatia today, aiming to book a place in the World Cup final. 

After most Argentina games, the “Albiceleste” have lingered on the pitch long after the final whistle, sharing a moment of emotionally charged communion with their supporters. 

“We like to take advantage of these moments with the people who are here and in Argentina, where everyone is euphoric,” Messi said following Friday’s quarter-final win over the Netherlands. 

Whereas Croatia lost their first FIFA World Cup semi-final, 2-1 to France in 1998, and won the second, 2-1 after extra time against England in 2018, Argentina have emerged victorious from all four of their previous semi-finals – against the USA in 1930 (6-1), Belgium in 1986 (2-0), Italy in 1990 (1-1, 4-3 on penalties) and the Netherlands in 2014 (0-0, 4-2 on penalties). 

KEY FACTS 

Argentina 

*Argentina have lost only one of their last 41 international matches (W28 D12). 

*Eight of Argentina’s last 14 FIFA World Cup knockout-stage matches against European nations have required extra time. 

*Lionel Messi will join Lothar Matthäus as the joint record appearance-maker in FIFA World Cup history if he plays here in what would be his 25th match. 

Croatia 

*Croatia have lost only one of their last 12 FIFA World Cup matches (W5 D6). 

*Croatia have been successful in eight of their ten FIFA World Cup knockout-stage ties. 

*Five of Croatia’s last six FIFA World Cup knockout-stage matches have gone into extra time. 

Messi 

*Messi and Gabriel Batistuta are Argentina’s joint-leading marksmen in the World Cup on 10 goals apiece. 

*They are followed by Diego Maradona (8), Guillermo Stabile (8), Mario Kempes (6), and Gonzalo Higuain (5). 

*Messi is the only player to score in the World Cup in his teens, 20s and 30s. Pele missed out on accomplishing the same by four months. 

*Messi scored his first and latest World Cup goals 16 years and 176 days apart. The next biggest span in World Cup history belongs to Cristiano Ronaldo at 16 years and 160 days. 

*The Player of the Match, first awarded in 2002, has been given to Messi an unequalled nine times. His four at Brazil 2014 is a record for one edition he shares with Wesley Sneijder, who received the same at South Africa 2010. 

*Miroslav Klose has played in 17 World Cup victories. Messi is currently on 15.