Croatia faced Morocco and ended the game with 0-0 draw at the Al Bayt Stadium on Wednesday. The narrowing down of the gulf between the teams of the European sides and the rest of the world happened in the initial days of the World Cup itself. As far as overall footballing pedigree is concerned, Europe has rightly earned its name as the strongest contender owing to the teams from all around the continent being competitive because of strong domestic and UEFA structures and a tradition and following of the game.
Facts from Croatia - Morocco 2022 FIFA World Cup match:
1. Hakim Ziyech was involved in 50% of Morocco's eight attempts against Croatia, having two shots and creating two chances for his teammates.
2. At 20 years and 304 days, Croatia defender Josko Gvardiol became the youngest player on record (since 1966) to complete at least 100 passes in a single World Cup match (103).
3. As well as becoming Croatia's oldest ever player to feature in the World Cup (37y 75d), Luka Modric became the first player to appear in both the European Championship and World Cup across three different decades.
4. At 45 minutes and 12 seconds, Nikola Vlasic's saved attempt for Croatia was the latest first shot on target in a match at the 2022 World Cup so far.
5. Three of the last four games at the World Cup have finished 0-0, more goalless draws than there were in the previous 73 matches in the competition combined (2).
6. Morocco have failed to score in 53% of their World Cup matches (9/17), the joint-highest percentage of any nation to have played in more than 10 games in the competition.
7. Croatia failed to score for the first time in 12 World Cup matches, since what was their only other goalless draw in the competition against Japan in 2006.