Argentina, Croatia and the four-year itch

You have to wait four Christmases for another World Cup, former Nigeria midfielder Sunday Oliseh had said deep inside the Maracana. The winter World Cup has stretched that even longer but there will be familiar faces when Argentina and Croatia line up at Lusail here on Tuesday. Faces that will remember that warm June night in Nizhny Novgorod for different reasons.

Six of those in Argentina's light blue and white here were part of the campaign in Russia. Argentina were taken apart by Croatia, the rout beginning in the second half and ending in their worst World Cup defeat in 60 years. Among them, Lionel Messi. When the hurly-burly was done, he had looked somewhere between dazed and desperate. He had been on the periphery of the action as Argentina struggled in all departments.

Their chaos was in sharp contrast to the order and elegance of Croatia. Ante Rebic made the most of a howler by Argentina goalkeeper Willy Caballero leading to manic pacing on the touchline by coach Jorge Sampaoli who later "begged" fans' forgiveness. Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic compounded their misery in what was the second-ever meeting between the teams at the World Cup.

It was the first time since 1974 that Argentina couldn't win either of the first two games and though they did get out of the group, there were enough and more signs of the unraveling that happened against France.

Nicolas Tagliafico was among the six in the Argentina squad here who was also part of that game. Nicolas Otamendi, Angel di Maria, Marcos Acuna, who along with Gonzalo Montiel is suspended for the semi-final, and Paulo Dybala were the others. Tagliafico said this would be a different game albeit with "some similarities." Croatia were in the final last time and semi-finals here so it is obvious they are a good team, he said. "But many players will be different and it will be a completely different match, one that will be played in another way. But we will make the most of use our experience of that match."

Lionel Scaloni continued in the same vein, the Argentina coach saying "we should not get into comparisons."

"That match was in the group stage, this is a knockout. Nothing major would have happened had we not scored in that game where we utilised all our chances. Tomorrow, the stakes are quite high. There will be no holding back. It will be a solid, dynamic and, hopefully, fair game," said Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic ahead of his second successive semi-final.

A lot has changed since Argentina's campaign ended in disarray in Russia. A raft of older players either retired or were axed. In Scaloni, they found a coach who could stabilise the team, improve the defence and most importantly, take a lot of the load off Messi. And in Emiliano Martinez, Argentina have a goalkeeper who excels in penalties and is generally a safe pair of hands.

Scaloni's team ended Argentina's 28-year trophy drought with the 2021 Copa America and are now two wins from ending an even longer wait, for their first World Cup title since 1986. Between the last edition and this, Argentina were also unbeaten in 36 games and had bossed over Italy in the clash of continental champions.

So it fits that Bora Milutinovic would say that Argentina's biggest star "is their technical staff." Scaloni was visibly pleased when this was pointed out at Monday's press conference, saying he needed to thank a man of his experience – Milutinovic has taken five teams to the World Cup final- for saying this.

Like with Dalic, Croatia have kept faith in the old guard, bringing eight players from the 2018 campaign to Doha. Some like Dominik Livacovic, Mateo Kovacic and Andrej Kramaric have graduated from the bench to first-choice. Mario Mandzukic is now part of Dalic's support staff. Others like Domagoj Vida start on the bench.

That has happened because in 20-year-old Josko Gvardiol Croatia have found a left-footed centre-back who is marshalling the inner defence with Dejan Lovren. Gvardiol can also play left back and has played striker as a child, which he has said helped him understand the movement of attacking players.

"He plays like he has 100 caps for the national team. But that is what happens when God gives you everything," Croatia defender Borna Barisic has said. "It seems like for him this is just some game without any pressure. Like he is playing with friends, he is very, very relaxed."

Gvardiol and Livakovic have been standout performers here but Dalic has said Croatia's success would not be possible "without the older ones." Many of whom have fond recollections of that night in Nizhny.