Fifa World Cup: Croatia lead 2-1 at half time in third-place playoff

Mislav Orsic's put the Croatians ahead of Morocco just before half-time in the World Cup's third-place play-off. Josko Gvardiola netted the first goal as Achraf Dari equalised with a brilliant header.

Luka Modric earned his 162nd cap on the night.

Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic made five changes from the team beaten 3-0 by Argentina in the semifinals, bringing Lovro Majer into the midfield in place of Marcelo Brozovic.

Josip Stanisic and Josip Sutalo came on for their first appearances of the tournament in defence as Dejan Lovren and Josip Juranovic dropped to the bench.

Mislav Orsic and Marko Livaja were also included from the start in a repeat of a Group F match against Morocco last month, which finished 0-0.

Hakim Ziyech captained Morocco, with Romain Saiss among the substitutes after injury forced him off early in the 2-0 semi-final loss to France.

Belgium-born teenager Bilal El Khannouss was handed his Morocco debut in midfield alongside Abdelhamid Sabiri. Yahya Attiat-Allah gets the nod at left-back in the absence of Noussair Mazraoui.

Starting line-ups:

Croatia (3-5-2)

Dominik Livakovic; Josip Stanisic, Josko Gvardiol, Josip Sutalo; Mislav Orsic, Lovro Majer, Luka Modric (capt), Mateo Kovacic, Ivan Perisic; Marko Livaja, Andrej Kramaric

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