Cry for me, Argentina. But not tears of sadness, but joy. Thousands of its fans cried in the Lusail Iconic stands yesterday as Albicelesta beat Croatia 3-0 to secure their place in the World Cup grand final. Diego Maradona will not celebrate with them, but he would certainly be proud of his children. He would no doubt be proud of his successor, Messi, who scored a goal and assist, as well as Alvarez, who scored twice and led his team to a big win on Sunday.

It may have been a World Cup semi-final, but it was probably Argentina’s easiest night in Qatar. The Croats held out until the 33rd minute. That is, until the moment when Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot. A goal that put him in first place among Argentina’s World Cup scorers as he surpassed Batistuta by 11 goals and also scored a third successive knockout match.

Six minutes later, Alvarez, after the first reception of the ball in the center, with a crazy race and a fair amount of luck, having won two counterattacks, reached the opponent’s penalty area and made the score 2-0 with a kick from the spot. The icing on the cake came in the 69th minute, when Messi, after an individual effort, “danced” past Guardiol and put it on Alvarez, who from a small area without any problems made the score 3-0 in favor of Argentina, which reached the final. for the second time in the last three competitions.

On the other hand, the Croatians go into the minor final, certainly with their heads held high, as Modric’s last dance managed to break into the top four, in many ways repeating the streak they had four years ago in Russia.

Away… France vs Morocco

George Georgakopoulos

The headline on the French channel BFMTV yesterday spoke for itself: “France-Morocco: more than a football match,” he said, depicting today’s clash not only of the unexpected World Cup winners and two diametrically opposed football philosophies, but also of the metropolitan metropolis. with the former colony, and Europe with the Arab world and Africa. “There is no magic recipe for success, adaptation is required,” French coach Didier Deschamps said yesterday, recognizing the value of an opponent. The French will play as if they were away, with just 3,000 fans on their side against at least 30,000 Arabs. However, the Parisian authorities are concerned about clashes between fans.