Argentina and Croatia are the most recent losers of a World Cup final. Argentina fell to Germany in 2014, and Croatia’s miracle run at the 2018 tournament was stopped by France. Now, these two nations will face each other in the first semi-final of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Who will get a chance at redemption? We take a dive into FIFA 23 player ratings for an educated prediction.
Our FIFA 23-guided predictions have produced solid results up to the semi-finals and we want to keep the high success rate going for the last few games in Qatar. First up is Argentina vs. Croatia. Penalties were a blessing for both nations in the quarter-finals. What is their fate for the semis? Let’s see what FIFA 23 has to tell us.
We picked Argentina and Croatia’s starting lineups for their quarter-final matches and used FUT World Cup Player ratings for a direct comparison of squads. Here are the results.
Argentina FIFA 23 World Cup player ratings
- GK: Emiliano Martínez – 84 OVR
- RB: Nahuel Molina – 80 OVR
- CB: Cristian Romero – 84 OVR
- CB: Nicolás Otamendi – 82 OVR
- CB: Lisandro Martínez – 82 OVR
- LB: Marcos Acuña – 85 OVR
- CM: Rodrigo De Paul – 84 OVR
- CM: Enzo Fernandez – 78 OVR
- CM: Alexis Mac Allister – 79 OVR
- ST: Lionel Messi – 91 OVR
- ST: Julián Alvarez – 78 OVR
Croatia’s FIFA 23 World Cup player ratings
- GK: Dominik Livaković – 81 OVR
- RB: Josip Juranović – 79 OVR
- CB: Dejan Lovren – 80 OVR
- CB: Joško Gvardiol – 82 OVR
- LB: Borna Sosa – 80 OVR
- CM: Luka Modrić – 88 OVR
- CM: Mateo Kovačić – 84 OVR
- CM: Marcelo Brozović – 86 OVR
- RW: Mario Pašalić – 83 OVR
- LW: Ivan Perišić – 84 OVR
- ST: Andrej Kramarić – 83 OVR
Croatia may be viewed as a surprise at this stage of the World Cup by some, but FIFA 23 doesn’t see it this way. The game rates the European nation’s starting 11 very high and definitely on par with their South American counterparts, if not better.
The area where Croatia shines the most is the midfield. FIFA 23’s money is entirely on Modrić, Kovačić, and Brozović outplaying De Paul, Fernández, and Mac Allister. The Croatian forward line would also trump Argentina’s if not for one man. Every rational comparison could be negated by the presence of Lionel Messi and FIFA 23 is pretty clear that if he is to win the World Cup, Messi will have to do it himself against Croatia and hope that the Argentina defense is as good as FIFA 23 rates it to be.
