Argentina clash with Croatia in the first semifinal of the FIFA World Cup on Tuesday (Wednesday, 12.30 am IST).
Argentina have won all four of their previous semifinals in 1930, 1986, 1990 and 2014. There were no semifinals in the 1978 edition in which Argentina emerged champions for the first time.The two top sides from the second round made it to the final then.
Croatia will be playing in their third semifinal. They lost to France 1-2 in the 1998 edition, while the Croats got the better of England 2-1 after extra time at Russia 2018.
Argentina have so far scored nine goals from five matches at Qatar 2022. Lionel Messi is their top-scorer with four goals. They have not scored more than two goals in an outing this time around.
Argentina needed penalties to edge out the Netherlands in the quarterfinals.
Croatia along with Morocco are the two unbeaten teams left in the competition. They have found the mark six times and four of those came in the 4-1 win over Canada. The Croats won on penalties against both Japan and Brazil in the pre-quarterfinals and quarterfinals respectively. Andrej Kramarić is their top-scorer, courtesy his twin strikes against Canada.
There is absolutely nothing to separate between the two sides as far as past matches are concerned.
Both have won two games each after playing out a goalless draw in their maiden meeting in 1994.
The head-to-head record between the two sides in World Cup too is tied 1-1. Argentina won 1-0 in 1998, while Croatia outplayed the South Americans 3-0 in the last edition. This will be the first knockout game between the two teams.
Past results
1. June 4, 1994: Croatia drew with Argentina 0-0, international friendly
2. June 26, 1998: Argentina bt Croatia 1-0, World Cup group stage
3. March 1, 2006: Croatia bt Argentina 3-2, international friendly
4. November 12, 2014: Argentina bt Croatia 2-1, international friendly
5. June 21, 2018: Croatia bt Argentina 3-0, World Cup group stage
