The 2022 World Cup is down to its final four, and if you’ve been following our prognostications (and even our follow-up attempts), it’s hardly the final four you expected.
Argentina and France? Sure. Makes sense. Then it gets a little off the beaten path. Croatia’s return to the semifinals (despite the fact that it still hasn’t won a knockout match in regular time since 1998) after a surprise run to the final in 2018 and a significant player overhaul certainly wasn’t expected. A semifinalist coming out of Africa wasn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility—before Sadio Mané got hurt, reigning Cup of Nations champion Senegal was a popular pick—but few outside Marrakesh saw Morocco’s ascent coming. The Atlas Lions hired manager Walid Regragui at the end of August and were in a difficult group with Croatia and Belgium. They had two World Cup wins in their history and had never made as much as a quarterfinal, despite being a hard out for Portugal and Spain four years ago.
Nevertheless, those are the four we’re left with, with Argentina and Croatia playing Tuesday and France and Morocco squaring off Wednesday to determine Saturday’s third-place and Sunday’s final matchups.
