his strike partner, who was fouled after the half hour mark against croatia, it was messi who stepped up to score the penalty, that was his 11th world cup goal for argentina, overtaking the old mark of gabriel batistuta. he is up to five in qatar and level in the race for the golden boot alongside kylian mbappe. it was alvarez ran at the heart of the croatian defence before halftime, got the luck of the bounce, but he hit their second from close range, 2 0 at halftime and then it was lionel messi weaved his magic on the right with 20 minutes left of play, turning one croatian defender and another inside and out before finding alvarez for their third. the croatian fans knew it wasn t to be their day. they weren t going to reach back to back finals, they were runners up four years ago in russia, but there was a standing ovation their talisman,
the 37 year old croatian captain, luka modric, he was substituted towards the end, and that is almost certainly going to be his final world cup. maybe it ll be lionel messi s but what a way to go out on sunday in the final. it was his 25th world cup appearance against the croatians and that equals the record of lothar matthaus. he will break that if he is fit, and surely he will be on sunday. earlier, i spoke to daniel edwards, the co host of the argentinian football podcast the hand of pod and asked him how he was feeling about the semi final result. on top of the world. it s incredible how the world cup panned out, especially after the very muted start argentina had against saudi arabia, and at that point the argentina team came out and said it, we ve got six finals left, and argentina up to now have won five of them. every single game has been celebrated as such in argentina, this one more
terms then if i can ask you what do you think we learned from england s match against croatia that the scots might find useful to think about given that they are the home team that has to worry about getting through tonight. melt that has to worry about getting through tonight. that has to worry about getting through tonight. well the croatian ca tain is through tonight. well the croatian captain is one through tonight. well the croatian captain is one of through tonight. well the croatian captain is one of the through tonight. well the croatian captain is one of the best - through tonight. well the croatian captain is one of the best playersl captain is one of the best players in the world. that midfielder even in the world. that midfielder even in defeat he looked incredible against england and in paris sick alongside of him, bras of x they have hundreds of caps that they are so experienced was that it is at midfielder three who they really got to keep quiet. while saying that
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