France are champions

Legendary German footballer and a member of FIFA's Technical Study Group (TSG), Jurgen Klinsmann, opined that Brazil made a mistake by not sending their best penalty takers in their quarterfinal defeat against Croatia. 

Rodrygo and Marquinhos missed their two spot-kicks while Casemiro and Pedro converted their as Croatia won the quarterfinal in penalty shootout 4-2. Neymar, Brazil's all-time joint leading scorer, however did not get the chance to take the fifth spot- kick.

"For Brazil, they should have maybe put their best shooter first, set the tone with the best penalty taker you have and then go down the rankings," Klinsmann said today at a press conference of the TSG at the Main Media Centre in Doha.

The 1990 World Cup winner with Germany also felt Brazil didn't have time to recover from the shock of conceding a late equaliser in the second half of extra time. Neymar had given Brazil the lead at the end of the first half of extra time, but substitute Bruno Petkovic equalized with three minutes remaining.

"After conceding the equaliser in the 117th minute, Brazil had no time to switch gears. From the disappointment of conceding a last minute goal to the penalty shootout, there was no time to settle and approach the shootout positively," Klinsmann added.

Klinsmann also made a comparison between that game and the one between Argentina and Netherlands, where the former came through after an equally intriguing penalty shootout.

"With Argentina, they had extra time to play, even with the shock of the (Wout) Weghorst equaliser in the last minute," Klinsmann said. "They had 30 minutes more to play. At the end of the game they were far more clearer (in the head) going into the penalty shootout."

France coach Thierry Henry described his team's Olympic performance as "magical" despite their agonising extra-time defeat against Spain in the men's football final on Friday.

"I told the players they had done something magical and that I was so proud of them. In the end we have medals. It didn't finish the way we wanted it to but it was still really an extraordinary evening," France legend Henry said after his side lost 5-3 in a classic match.

Enzo Millot gave France an early advantage at the Parc des Princes only for Spain to come back and lead 3-1 by half-time.

However, Maghnes Akliouche pulled one back and a last-gasp Jean-Philippe Mateta penalty made it 3-3 to force extra time, in which Sergio Camello scored twice for Spain to hand them gold.

"What is really important for me is that the team really fought. There really wasn't much in it in the end, so we can't say the team didn't fight, from the first to the last minute of every game," Henry said after France claimed silver, their first football medal since winning gold in 1984.

"I would have preferred to win, but we must still celebrate this. It is the first time in my life where I have lost a final but won a medal all the same," added the former Arsenal and Barcelona star.

"That is what is great about the Olympics. It has been an extraordinary human adventure. This team have earned my respect for life."

Win and you have a seat at the finals. Lose and you go home. In this high-risk and high-reward situation, we have only four teams left at the FIFA World Cup 2022 and Croatia amongst them have earned our respect a while ago. They have dismantled some big teams on their way to the road to the final.

Here are 5 reasons why Croatia is a force to be reckoned with.

Luka Modric, the Magician

The midfielder is presently 37 years old and still playing 90 to 120 mins a match like he's barely 20. He is part of the present Champions League trophy-holder club, Real Madrid. In a team as talented as Real Madrid, Luka Modric has the nickname: The Magician. That should be enough to convince everyone about his abilities. Any team that has Modric in their squad is already getting an advantage and this time that advantage goes to Croatia.

An extraordinary goalkeeper

Sure, Modric is amazing without a doubt but Croatia has another asset that many teams are missing in this tournament and that is an extraordinary goalkeeper. With so many matches going into penalty shootouts, it is imperative to have a goalkeeper that can keep his nerve in this situation and Croatia has just the right man for the job.

Goalkeeper, Dominik Livakovic has already produced a hattrick of saves against Japan and added to that tally in the game against Brazil. Which eventually caused Brazil to fall behind and the result, as you can see is that they are in the semi-finals.

They have an ambitious team

Players with individual talents and personalities are important and they can be great when your team needs that 'one moment of magic' for a win. What is better is when you have a team that plays as a team and can properly function as a team. Croatia have found themselves a squad that fit together smoothly as a team and this team is ambitious. From asking 'What if we don't qualify?' to 'We're fighting for the trophy', you can imagine the aspiration it takes to come this far.

They have done it before

Some people have this notion that Croatia is in the semi-finals because of luck. They do not deserve to be here and many think that they are like a bad case of flu — comes and goes with the wind. That is hardly the case.

Croatia is a European team that exudes European football flavour in their playing style. Since 1998, they have appeared in all the World Cups so far except 2010. (Note that Croatia became an independent nation only as recently as 1991). Not only are they qualifying regularly, they are also beating big names. They played in the finals against France in 2018 and this year, they have already beaten the big favourites Brazil to reach the semi-finals. So, they are not new to this stage, they have done this before and they know how to get it done.

They are serious about tactics

There are so many tactics to adopt in a football match but quite often we find that when the game gets difficult and pacey in the second half, the teams abandon their tactics or fail to apply their tactics properly due to the high speed of the game. For Croatia, this is not the case. In every match, it is evident they have a game plan. When they are on the pitch, they already know what they want to do and why. So far, their tactics (some people might not like their defensive tactics sometimes) have worked well. Brazil got them shaken up a bit but even the samba boys had to concede to Croatia's tactics. With such a clear game plan in every match, Croatia should be the new favourites.

Say what you will about Croatia but being led by someone like Modric and with a tremendous amount of self-belief, they have progressed this far and it should not be a surprise to anyone if they end up as the winners of this tournament.

Spain midfielder Rodri was named the UEFA Nations League's Player of the Tournament after his side edged Croatia 5-4 in a penalty shootout at the Feyenoord Stadium on Sunday.

The 26-year-old was named the Champions League's Player of the Season just over a week ago when he helped treble-winners Manchester City win the elite club competition for the first time by scoring in the final.

Starting line-ups for the World Cup third place playoff between Belgium and England in Saint Petersburg on Saturday (1400 GMT kick-off):

Belgium (3-4-3)

Thibaut Courtois; Toby Alderweireld, Vincent Kompany, Jan Vertonghen; Thomas Meunier, Axel Witsel, Youri Tielemans, Nacer Chadli; Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku, Eden Hazard (capt)

Coach: Roberto Martinez (ESP)

England (3-5-2)

Jordan Pickford; Phil Jones, John Stones, Harry Maguire; Kieran Trippier, Eric Dier, Fabian Delph, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Danny Rose; Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane (capt)

Coach: Gareth Southgate (ENG)

Referee: Alireza Faghani (IRI)