ecoco2014:
The Croats only outstanding game was their 4-1 drubbing of Canada. Every other game saw them draw in 90minutes. The Messi and MacAllister factor will make the difference as the South Americans will employ every craftiness including forcing out a Red card on the Croats in a bid to avoid the penalty shootouts. That for me will be the Croats undoing.
Save for the dubious loss to Saudi Arabia, Argentina has always scored first and eventually emerged victors. If they could breach Virgil Van Dyk led Dutch defence, the Croats could be lesser fry.
Moreso the handwriting points to the end of the Messi era (I AM NOT HIS FAN THOUGH) and that with a standing ovation akin to his 2005 U20 Fifa world cup tourney.
Then comes the superstitious statistics of their star of the tourney missing a penalty in the 3rd matches of their previous world cup winning efforts in 1978(Mario Kempes) and 1986(Diego Maradona)respectively and more recently Lionel Messi against Poland in the ongoing 2022 Fifa World cup.