Croatia will face Argentina in the 2022 FIFA World Cup semi-final as Zlatko Dalic looks to take Luka Modric and company to their second-ever major final.
The Vatreni have once again exceeded all expectations at this World Cup as Croatia eliminated Brazil on penalties having already beaten Japan in a similar fashion, with Argentina next up for the 2018 finalists.
What is Croatia’s FIFA world ranking?
FIFA world rankings are a contentious topic for some football fans given how skewed they can be in some aspects, and the current standings are no exception, with Belgium, who didn’t even progress out of their World Cup group, ranked second behind Brazil.
With Croatia beating both nations in Qatar, you would expect the European nation to be top of FIFA’s world rankings. Alas, they sit just 12th, behind the likes of Denmark, Italy and Spain, with Mexico, who also didn’t progress out of their group, sitting in 13th.
Indeed, Croatia’s international history in a footballing sense is one of the most interesting tales in the modern game, with the nation itself not even becoming an independent national team until 1994 and the breakup of Yugoslavia.
Argentina World Cup clash could make history for Croatia
Croatia’s best footballing moment might have been their final against France at the 2018 World Cup, but that run didn’t place the European nation in their best-ever FIFA rank position, with that honour coming in 1999.
Just a mere six years after becoming independent, Croatia made it to the semi-finals of the 1998 World Cup in France, where FIFA ranked the former Yugoslavia bloc third come 1999. And winning against Argentina could top this standing in 2023.
Making back-to-back World Cup finals is an unprecedented achievement for a nation as new and as small as Croatia. Yet with Modric’s side already eliminating Brazil, who’s to say that the little European country that could can’t repeat this feat against Argentina in the semi-finals.
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