Croatia (reigning world champions) and Argentina (two-time competition winners) will meet in the semi-finals of the World Cup in Qatar, seeing off Brazil and the Netherlands respectively on penalties.

The joy of Croatian players after the departure of Brazil from the 2022 World Cup in QatarPhoto: Dave Shopland / Shutterstock Editorial / Profimedia

Croatia – Argentina, in the semifinals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar

In the first leg of the quarter-finals, Croatia knocked out Brazil, five-time winners of the trophy and big favorites for the tournament in Qatar. Seleção opened the scoring with Neymar (105+3), but Petkovic (117) managed to lead Zlatko Dalic’s team to a penalty shootout.

The Europeans scored through Vlasic, Mayer, Modric and Orsic, while the South Americans scored through Casemiro and Pedro (missing Rodrigo and Marquinhos).

The Netherlands didn’t trouble Argentina and they took a 2-0 lead after Messi made the decisive pass to Molina (’35) and converted the penalty (’73), but Louis van Gaal sent it to Vehorst and the Besiktas giants equalized (’83, ’90+11).

In the shootout, Emiliano Martinez interfered with Van Dijk and Berghuis (the Dutch scored through Koopminers, Weghorst and De Jong), while the Cougars converted through Messi, Paredes, Montiel and Lautaro (Fernandez a lame duck).

On Tuesday, starting at 21:00, Argentina and Croatia will meet for a place in the grand final of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The match at Lusail Stadium (Al-Daayen) will be broadcast in the format LiveBLOG on HotNews.ro.

World Cup 2022 in Qatar: Lionel Messi and Emiliano Martinez qualified Argentina for the semi-finals

World Cup 2022 in Qatar: the dream was destroyed – Brazil was dramatically eliminated due to a penalty from Croatia

The quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar

Croatia – Brazil 1-1 (4-2 on penalties)

Netherlands – Argentina 2-2 (3-4, after shots from 11 meters)

  • Saturday, December 10

Morocco – Portugal (Al Toumama Stadium – Doha, 17:00)

France – England (Al Beit Stadium – Al Khor, 21:00).

The semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar

  • Tuesday, December 13

Argentina – Croatia (Lusail Stadium – Al Daayen, 21:00)

  • Wednesday, December 14

Morocco/Portugal – France/England (Al Beit Stadium – Al Khor, 21:00)