Morocco's dream run in the 2022 FIFA World Cup came to an end with a 2-0 defeat to defending champions France in the semi-finals. By progressing to the last 4, Morocco created history having become the first African side to do so. They now await a fiery Croatia side that lost to Argentina in the second semi-final. Though the two teams square-off in an ‘inconsequential' third-place playoff, there's still plenty to look to forward to, especially for Morocco who could go on to create history.
Morocco, who have unarguably been one of the most impressive teams in the tournament, did punch above their weight as they made it as far as the semi-finals. But, what is interesting to note is that no team, outside of Europe and South America, has ever finished 3rd in the history of the FIFA World Cup.
If Morocco go on to beat Croatia on Saturday, they would become the first team, outside of Europe and South America, in FIFA World Cup history to take the third spot on the podium.
List of past teams who finished 3rd and 4th in FIFA World Cup history:
Year
3rd-Place Team
4th-Place Team
Score at full-time
Remarks
1930
United States of America
Yugoslavia
-
Positions decided on the basis of overall performance.
1934
Germany
Austria
3-2
-
1938
Brazil
Sweden
4-2
-
1950
Sweden
Spain
-
Round-robin format
1954
Austria
Uruguay
3-1
-
1958
France
West Germany
6-3
-
1962
Chile
Yugoslavia
1-0
-
1966
Portugal
Soviet Union
2-1
-
1970
West Germany
Uruguay
1-0
-
1974
Poland
Brazil
1-0
-
1978
Brazil
Italy
2-1
-
1982
Poland
France
3-2
-
1986
France
Belgium
4-2
-
1990
Italy
England
2-1
-
1994
Sweden
Bulgaria
4-0
-
1998
Croatia
Netherlands
2-1
-
2002
Turkey
South Korea
3-2
-
2006
Germany
Portugal
3-1
-
2010
Germany
Uruguay
3-2
-
2014
Netherlands
Brazil
3-0
-
2018
Belgium
England
2-0
-
2022
Morocco/Croatia
Croatia/Morocco
TBD
-
France had ended Morocco's World Cup dream as goals from Theo Hernandez and Randal Kolo Muani gave the holders a 2-0 win in their semi-final clash to set up a showdown on Sunday with Lionel Messi's Argentina.
It appeared that France might make short work of their opponents when Hernandez scored inside five minutes at Al Bayt Stadium on Wednesday, despite having a hostile crowd against them.
Morocco, the first African or Arab team ever to reach the last four at a World Cup, dug deep despite injury problems only to concede a late second as substitute Kolo Muani scored moments after coming on.
With AFP inputs