What happened on the twenty-fourth day of the World Cup
These were the highlights of the day of the first World Cup semi-final:
Argentina beat Croatia (3-0) with two goals from Messi and Julian Alvarez and will play in the World Cup final. Argentina will play the Qatar 2022 World Cup final, after defeating Croatia in the semi-finals, with great authority and a new exhibition for its star, Lionel Messi. Albiceleste No. 10 opened the scoring in the first half by scoring a penalty kick that Levakovic took on Julian Alvarez, another Argentine hero of the night. The Manchester City striker scored his team’s second goal before the break with a gallop from midfield that had some luck, taking advantage of some rebounds to end up alone in front of the goalkeeper and send the ball into the net. In the second half, Messi again waved his stick and got a genius assist from El Arenana to score his second goal of the game against a Croatian side who ended up getting tired. Sunday’s Grand Final rivals will be eliminated by France vs Morocco (this Wednesday at 8:00pm, on TVE and Gol Mundial), contenders for tomorrow’s other semi-final.
Messi equals Mateus as the player with the most appearances in World Cup finals. Today, Tuesday, Argentine striker Lionel Messi equaled German midfielder Lothar Matthaus as the footballer with the most appearances in the history of the World Cup, with 25 each, during the Qatar 2022 semi-final against Croatia at Lusail Stadium, in a tour that started in Germany 2006, when he appeared For the first time in the competition on 16 June of that year with a 6-0 victory over Serbia. From that moment, when he entered the field of play at the age of just 18, eight days before his 19th birthday, he started his career through five World Cups, from Germany 2006, when he played three duels, to Qatar 2022, when he played six. already and will still play 7th on Sunday, unless he is caught off guard.
Rabiot and Upamecano are not training with France and the semi-final against Morocco on Wednesday is in doubt. The French national team trained, on Tuesday, in Doha, in the last round before Wednesday’s semi-finals against Morocco, without two of its key players, namely midfielder Adrien Rabiot and fullback Dayot Upamecano, according to L’Equipe newspaper. Both football players doubt the match. The Bayern Munich defender has already missed Monday’s session with a sore throat. The Juventus midfielder also fell ill after catching a cold yesterday in training. “Dayot Uppicano and Adrien Rabiot are still in their rooms this afternoon,” the French Football Federation said.
The French government mobilizes 2,000 police officers in Paris to prevent incidents during the France-Morocco match. About 2,000 French agents, including police and gendarmerie, will be mobilized tomorrow, Wednesday, in Paris to prevent riots at the end of the World Cup semi-final between France and Morocco, especially on the Champs Elysees in Paris. This security squad practically doubles the number deployed on the same Champs-Elysees on Saturday, when Morocco, who beat Portugal, and France, who beat England, qualified for the World Cup semi-finals.
The Belgian Confederation publishes a job advertisement to recruit a coach. The Belgian Football Association published a job advertisement, on Tuesday, to appoint a new coach to replace Spaniard Roberto Martinez, who left the Red Devils after they were eliminated in the group stage of the World Cup. The “profile” the federation is looking for is a “determinedly ambitious” coach with “world-class international experience, tactical knowledge and ideas, as well as suitable interpersonal skills”, according to a job offer published by the Royal Belgian Football Association.
“Analyst. Web buff. Wannabe beer trailblazer. Certified music expert. Zombie lover. Explorer. Pop culture fanatic.”