The battle of the LM10s

Lionel Messi and Luka Modric, the most famous LM10s of this generation, will take the field for Argentina and Croatia in their last-ever World Cup as the teams will lock horns to book the first spot in the final of the Qatar World Cup 2022.

Both players, expectedly, have been the best players of their respective teams, and the journeys of the teams have been quite different but weirdly on a similar pattern.

Croatia are the only semi-finalists besides Morocco who are still unscathed. They came out of the group stage by stopping Belgium, and then won on tie-breakers to qualify for a Quarter-final battle against Brazil.

Going into the tie as the underdogs, the Croats displayed dogged determinism as an inspired performance from their goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic along with midfield magic from the trio of Modric, Mateo Kovacic, and Marcelo Brozovic dragged Brazil onto extra-time, and then to the penalties, where they stayed perfect while Brazil floundered.

On the other side, Argentina have managed to stay unbeaten since their shock defeat to Saudi Arabia in the opening game. They beat Mexico and Poland, and then scraped past Australia to set up a date with Netherlands in the last eight.

In the Quarter-finals, Argentina were in a comfortable 2-0 lead, courtesy of an assist and a goal from their captain, Messi. But a brace from Wout Weghorst in the dying minutes stretched the match into extra-time, and then on to penalties, where a double save from Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez took them through.

Ahead of the clash, both teams will be wary of the respective LM10 in the opposition side, and of more.

Messi already spoke after their game against Netherlands, saying that Croatia were a dangerous outfit.

“They are a great team who matched up to Brazil and at times were much better. They have good players across the whole midfield and they have been working with the same coach since the last World Cup, so they all know each other very well,” the Argentina captain said.

Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic was also proud of his side’s midfield.

“I said several times that Croatia has the best midfield in the world. We can pass the ball, control the game and control the ball, we did that today. Our midfielders were not hasty, that was the most important part. I believe the midfield is the best part of our team, they (kept) possession and blocked our opponents,” he said in a press conference.

He was especially praising his captain Modric.

“Again Luka led for 120 mins (at) a great rhythm and took the penalty when he needed to. It’s unbelievable how he plays. He is not tired, he didn’t fall behind, and he played the whole 120 minutes.

“At 37 years of age it is unbelievable but that is Luka Modric and it shows he is one of the best players in the world,” the Croat coach said.

The match is set to be one of tactical determinism as both coaches have some their pragmatism with their chalkboards.

Croatia are likely to go in with the same theory, trying to dominate the midfield and gain control of the match, while trying to defend deep when without the ball.

On the other hand, Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni is likely to change his tactics and XI once again, as he did against Netherlands to match their 3-5-2.

With Marcus Acuna not being available due to suspension, Nicolas Tagliafico will play at left-back, meaning Scaloni might twitch his tactics to protect the Lyon left-back, who is not in great form at this moment.

Argentina might also see the return of Angel Di Maria in the XI, who could not play a part in the Round of 16 clash due to an injury and could play only a few minutes against Netherlands.

But after all the talk about the tactics, the fight, in the end, drops down to the two mercurial captains. Modric, one of the greatest midfielders of the game, takes on Messi, one of the greatest footballers of all time. The stars have aligned. And now it’s time for destiny.