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LUSAIL, Qatar (AP) — Luka Modric pulled his shirt up over his face as he trudged over to the sideline.
Croatia’s red-and-white-clad followers acknowledged the unhappy significance of the second and rose as much as applaud the diminutive midfielder who might be their nation’s best ever participant.
Argentina’s boisterous supporters quickly adopted swimsuit at Lusail Stadium, honoring an opponent who is probably going showing at his final World Cup.
Substituted within the 81st minute on Tuesday, along with his workforce trailing by three targets, it successfully marked the top of Modric’s World Cup period. Croatia ended up shedding to Argentina 3-0 within the semifinals, 4 years after the workforce misplaced to France within the last.
Modric was somber as he was changed by Lovro Majer earlier than calmly taking his seat within the dugout. There was no grand gesture to the gang or outpouring of emotion for a person whose understated brilliance can nonetheless be ignored regardless of the whole lot he has achieved.
“We simply needed to be once more within the last,” Modric stated, “however sadly we aren’t.”
The second most well-known 37-year-old on the World Cup goes residence, just a few days after the opposite one.
Modric is similar age as former Actual Madrid teammate Cristiano Ronaldo, however as each males method the twilight of their trophy-laden careers, the distinction is stark. That was notably evident main as much as and through the World Cup.
Whereas Ronaldo hogged the limelight along with his explosive eve-of-the-tournament interview with Piers Morgan, Modric expressed himself on the sphere.
After main Croatia to the ultimate in Russia, he was once more the inspiration as a nation with a inhabitants of about 4 million made it to semifinals for the second straight World Cup.
In the meantime, Ronaldo, amid the distraction of his exit from Manchester United and potential switch to a membership in Saudi Arabia, ended up benched and in tears as Portugal’s hopes have been ended by Morocco within the quarterfinals.
In Croatia’s quarterfinal match, Modric performed his half in eliminating Brazil — and Neymar. However he couldn’t do something to cease Lionel Messi on his private mission to lastly win soccer’s largest trophy. Messi scored the opening objective from the penalty spot on Tuesday, after which produced a chunk of magic to arrange the second of Julian Alvarez’s two targets.
However Messi wasn’t the one iconic determine on show at Lusail Stadium.
Certainly regarded by many as Croatia’s most interesting, Modric additionally ranks alongside the very best midfielders to ever play the sport. A five-time Champions League winner with Actual Madrid, he additionally gained soccer’s final particular person prize, the Ballon d’Or, in 2018.
And his performances in Qatar present he nonetheless has extra to provide. He might but play once more for his nationwide workforce on the 2024 European Championship with one last bow for his nation. And who would rule out extra trophies with Actual Madrid?
“Nicely, maybe that is the top for the era on the World Cup. A few them are at an age the place it will likely be arduous to play on the World Cup in 2026. We are going to wait and see,” Croatia coach Zlatko Dalić stated. “I feel loads of gamers will end off at Euro 2024.”
Wherever Modric’s story goes from right here, his standing as a World Cup nice is safe.
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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson
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AP World Cup protection: https://apnews.com/hub/world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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