The manner of their semifinal defeats will have an impact, too. That is key, especially with Morocco having a number of players with knocks and minor injuries. The Croatian team come into this game having one extra day of rest, having played on Tuesday. That’s one of the reasons that I’ll be betting Croatia to win and Over 2.5 at +260. The only real exception is Brazil’s loss to the Netherlands in 2014, which even then is questionable. It’s also worth noting that in four of those five games, it’s been the more established, widely acclaimed team that has won. In those five games, we’ve seen 19 goals, with all but one seeing Over 2.5 goals. To get a handle on this game we’re going to look back at recent trends, going across the past five third-place games at World Cups. Will both teams be over their World Cup disappointment? How will those defeats in the week impact their build-up to this game? Check out our Croatia vs. World Cup odds have Croatia as a slight plus-money favorite at +138, with Morocco coming back at +200.
Saturday sees the warm-up to the main event as the World Cup third-place game gets underway in Doha.
