28 years ago, at “our” World Cup in USA 94, Bulgaria defeated Argentina 2:0 and stopped the march of the great Diego Armando Maradona and his teammates to the world title. Just before that match, the legend tested positive for doping and did not play in the match. Today at 21:00, the Argentines led by their leader Lionel Messi will face the Balkan nightmare in Qatar – Croatia in the semi-finals of the World Cup. Before the match, they received personal support from the Bulgarian legend Hristo Stoichkov and presented him with a shirt signed by Lionel Scaloni’s entire team at the last training session before today’s match. “It is a privilege for me to be invited by Argentina to their preparations for the semi-final. I wish you much success and appreciate the beautiful gift with the signatures of all of you,” Stoichkov wrote on Instagram.
The warm Bulgarian attitude, apart from the respect for Messi and his qualities, also comes from the fact that the world star came to the ranks of Barcelona as a small child and he never hid that he learned from one of his idols, Hristo Stoichkov, who was part of from the Dream Team of the Catalans, who wrote history in the 90s.
Kamata is part of the commentary team of the world media covering the championship. He made sure that Lionel Scaloni will bet on the best in the match against the Croatians.
The coach of the Argentine national team already knows 10 of the 11 players who will start in the match, and the question awaiting an answer in the preview is whether Angel Di Maria will start.
Di Maria missed the Round of 16 match against Australia due to a contracture he picked up against Poland at the end of the group stage, and came on briefly again in extra time against the Netherlands in the World Cup quarter-finals.
The footballer participated in the tactical work of Scaloni in the last training sessions, he will play about 60 minutes and the coach of the Argentine national team will have to determine whether they will be at the beginning or at the end of the match. Should Scaloni decide to start Di Maria on the bench against Croatia, it looks like he will go for a fourth midfielder rather than a third central defender as happened against the Netherlands.
Thus, Leandro Paredes is the main alternative to enter the team and his entry will mean that Enzo Fernandez will not be a central midfielder, but will come forward.
Argentina’s probable line-up against Croatia: Emiliano Martinez, Nauel Molina, Christian Romero, Nicolas Otamendi, Nicolas Taliafico, Rodrigo De Paul, Enzo Fernandez, Alexis McAllister, Angel Di Maria or Leandro Paredes, Lionel Messi and Julian Alvarez.
Ahead of the match, Scaloni was almost in tears talking about the motivation of his team, the Argentina national team, at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
“This team plays for them, for the people, for their families. They play for honor, they don’t play for money and we know the effort they put in. Look at all these images of people for whom nothing but our success exists. Hopefully we can make them happy,” said the coach who could not hold back his tears. And the moment he thought about his cherished dream of lifting the cup, he teared up even more: “We know that it also depends a lot on some circumstances, some moments, but we will do our best.”
Rodrigo de Paul also posted an emotional post before the match:
“Tomorrow more than ever ALL TOGETHER”, he wrote on his personal Instagram account and uploaded a video in which he himself experienced the execution of penalties against the Dutch. After Lautaro Martinez’s latest penalty, the midfielder can be seen collapsing on the grass, unable to hold back tears with both hands on his face.
The Croatian national team, which eliminated Brazil and this Tuesday will try to do the same with Argentina at the World Cup, is also in the same emotional state. In the five matches played, the Croatian team used a system with four defenders, three midfielders and three forwards. He made his debut with Morocco in a 0-0 draw. The Croatian team then won 4-1 against Canada and closed the group with another draw against Belgium.
Meanwhile, in progressing through the quarter-finals, he beat Tite’s side on penalties, allowing them to go on to compete at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
On the occasion of the upcoming clash with Argentina, TycSport guesses who will be Dalic’s starters:
Dominic Livakovic, Josip Juranovic, Dejan Lovren, Josko Guardiol, Borna Sosa, Luka Modric, Marcelo Brozovic, Mateo Kovacic, Andrej Kramaric, Mario Pasalic and Ivan Perisic
The coach of the Balkan team, Zlatko Dalic, gave a press conference, focusing in particular on his plan to control Lionel Messi. “We expect a tough and motivated opponent again. They have an army of fans here in Qatar,” he first emphasized.
“We will pay special attention to the question of how to stop Messi. We have to cover the passes and reduce the spaces for him,” he outlined, and then came the most remarkable assessment of the star’s game: “He doesn’t run much, nor does he run after the ball. He waits for the ball and hits with all his strength and energy. We have to be very careful about that.”
Likewise, in other interviews, Dalic emphasized the level of the legend: “Messi is the best player in the world for the last 10 years. He is a player of exceptional quality. We have to prepare very well to face him because he is very motivated. This will probably be his last World Cup and maybe his last chance to win the title with Argentina,” he believes. He added: “Certainly the last defeat in Russia will also motivate him, so we hope to face a very good version of Argentina.”
Captain and leader Luka Modric also spoke about Messi before Croatia took on the Argentina national team:
“I want to play another semi-final against a big team, that’s what I want, not only against a player like him. Of course Leo (Messi) is very big, he’s their best player and we’ll have a lot of difficulty stopping him , but we are prepared and we will do our best. I hope it will be enough to be in the final,” said Modric in an interview with Televisión Española.
The match, in which the stake is the final of the world title, starts at 9:00 p.m.
Tags: years Bulgaria stopped Maradonas Argentina Stoichkovs energy Croatia
-
