Croatia beat Argentina by turning the game into a fight

It wasn’t really until late in the game that Argentina came close to Croatia in total fouls, Croatia finishing with 22 and Argentina with 16. Croatia’s strategy was the same as it was in their first game against Nigeria: to disrupt their opponents, turn the game into a street fight, and then prevail within that chaos. As it did against Nigeria, the strategy worked to perfection against Argentina.

Willy Caballero’s perfect accidental assist for Croatia’s first goal was borne out of an anxiety that defined the entire match. For long stretches, both teams seemed incapable of making good decisions or building play without giving the ball to their opponents. Right after Enzo Perez missed an open goal on one end, Mario Mandzukic missed a sitter of a header at the other.

The problem for Argentina was that Croatia had the stability and team structure to deal with the game devolving into nonsense, while Argentina was on the edge of making a costly mistake every time they were put under pressure.

Croatia doesn’t have the same attacking talent that Argentina has, but they owned the midfield with the trio of Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic, and Marcelo Brozovic. Modric is a perfect midfielder, Rakitic is wonderfully skilled and eager to play both sides of the ball, and Brozovic is not far behind their talent levels. Rakitic was named man of the match, and he and Modric were easily the best players on the field.

Croatia was helped tremendously by the fact that Argentina decided to concede the midfield, where they played just two men: an ancient Javier Mascherano and Enzo Perez, who was on vacation when he was called up to the national team. But Croatia knew where their talent was, and Modric and Rakitic were able to pick Argentina apart by virtue of their superiority while also playing staunch defending, fouling, and stopping any type of flow for Argentina.

Caballero’s mistake, like the penalty against Nigeria, came from Croatia pushing their opponents to the brink of frustration and then exploiting that anxiety. As fragile as Caballero seemed from the start of the game, defenders Nicolas Otamendi and Gabriel Mercado were also overwhelmed by their opponents.

The second goal was pure individual brilliance by Modric, getting the ball at the top of the box, dancing with his defender, and looking for space before curling one beyond Caballero. But at that point in the game, Croatia had beaten Argentina down so much that Argentina only really cared about attacking. When Modric received the ball, the defender who closes on him has to sprint from inside the box, 25 yards out, to meet him. There was no one behind him or on the side of him. Modric was practically alone.

After that goal, it was a matter of time before Croatia got their third. Argentina were desperate with time running out, and with no midfield, no real structure, and the reality that their World Cup adventure was in danger of ending, they threw everything at Croatia. Croatia did as they had done all game, defended the listless attack and then passed the ball to Rakitic, who took it all the way to outside the Argentina box before shooting. When Caballero beat the shot away, and into the path of Kovacic, all the defenders for Argentina had stopped moving. When Rakitic got the ball back, he had two teammates to opposite sides, and the keeper and one lone defender to beat. Behind him, looking at the linesman to call for offside, were four Argentina players.

The best image to represent how Croatia beat Argentina is the moment in the second half when Lionel Messi lost his cool. After Ivan Strinic brought Messi down to stop an Argentina counter-attack, Messi got up and threw Strinic’s leg away as the Croatian held his hand out to apologize.

Strinic wasn’t sorry — bringing Messi and the other attackers down at every opportunity was Croatia’s game plan. It not only stopped a dangerous moment for Argentina, it also annoyed Messi to the point of losing his cool. The resulting free kick also came to nothing. That was the idea that earned Croatia three points in the game.

It may be a cynical tactic, but it is also highly effective. Croatia broke Argentina’s spirit with a second goal. Then they scored a third just to rub in their dominance.