Croatia v Argentina, 13 December 2022

Kick-off: 10.00pm local (7.00pm GMT) . FIFA world ranking: Croatia 12. Argentina 3 . Croatia failed in their attempt to become the fourth European nation to reach consecutive World Cup Finals; previously Italy (1934, 1938), Netherlands (1974, 1978) and Germany (1982, 1986, 1990). . Croatia failed in their attempt to become the second nation to eliminate both Brazil and Argentina in the knockout stages of an edition of the World Cup after Germany in 2014. . Croatia had scored in each of their ten previous knockout games at the World Cup. . Croatia had now failed to score the opening goal in their last ten games at the World Cup finals. . Excluding the 2018 Final against France, Croatia’s preceding five knockout games at the World Cup had gone into extra-time. . Luka Modric became the fourth player to start six games at a World Cup tournament at the age of 37 or over; also Nilton Santos (Brazil) in 1962, Dino Zoff (Italy) in 1982 and Peter Shilton (England) in 1990. . Andrej Kramaric failed in his attempt to become the fourth player to score three or more goals at a World Cup tournament for Croatia after Davor Suker (six in 1998), Mario Mandzukic (three in 2018) and Ivan Perisic (three in 2018). . Argentina had now reached their sixth World Cup Final. Only Germany had played in more (eight). . Argentina had yet to lose a World Cup Semi-final; also 6-1 versus USA in 1930, 2-0 versus Belgium in 1986, on penalties versus Italy in 1990 and on penalties versus Netherlands. . Excluding penalty shoot-outs, Argentina had now won two of their last eight games at World Cup tournaments against European nations ((lost three). . Argentina had now scored the opening goal in each of their six games at this World Cup tournament. . Argentina became the second team since 1938 to lead by two or more goals at half time in a Semi-final of the World Cup; also Germany against Brazil in 2014. . Argentina had now lost one of their last 42 games. . Lionel Messi had now equalled the record for the most appearances by a player at World Cup tournaments; also Germany’s Lothar Matthäus (25). . Brazil’s Pelé (12) and Ronaldo (15) were now the only players from the non-European nations to score more goals at World Cup tournaments than Lionel Messi (11). . Julián Alvarez became the first player to score two or more goals in a Semi-final of the World Cup for Argentina since Diego Maradona in 1986. . This was the third meeting at the World Cup; Argentina won 1-0 in Bordeaux in 1998 and Croatia won 3-0 in Nizhny Novograd in 2018 (both group games).