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Will a more disciplined Argentina outfit show up this time?
To say that Albiceleste's quarter-final against the Netherlands was a fiery encounter would be an understatement.
The match surpassed the infamous 'Battle of Nuremberg', a 2006 group game between Portugal and the Netherlands, as the match with the most bookings in World Cup history, with eight of the 17 cards drawn being issued to Argentinian players and an additional two given to head coach Lionel Scaloni and support staff Walter Samuel.
The South American side were previously issued only two cards across their previous four matches at Qatar 2022, although those two prior bookings will now see both substitute Gonzalo Montiel and full-back Marcos Acuna miss the match against Croatia upon them both receiving yellows in the quarter-finals.
Those statistics alone would suggest that the Argentines have been fairly disciplined throughout the tournament, although tempers flared on occasion in their Round of 16 meeting with the Socceroos, though they did not receive a booking, even when Lionel Messi faced off with Aziz Behich in a brief altercation on the touchline.
They will need to hold their nerve against an experienced and mostly disciplined Croatia outfit, who have only been issued six yellow cards throughout the tournament in comparison.
However, the real question for Zlatko Dalić's men will be whether they can hold out to finally win a game in regular time at Qatar 2022.
Can Croatia finally salvage a win in regular time?
Aside from their 4-1 thrashing of Canada in their second Group F match, Croatia have struggled to win a match inside the allocated 90 minutes throughout the tournament. Two scoreless draws against fellow semi-finalists Morocco and the early exiting Belgium were followed by a gruelling 120 minutes and penalties in both knock-out games against Japan and Brazil, respectively.
Not only would the European side likely prefer to avoid additional time against Argentina to better recover for a potential appearance in the final, but going without the added stress of another penalty-shoot-out would also be a bonus - considering the track record of their South American opponent in tiebreakers is almost as good.
While Croatia have won all four of their World Cup penalty shootouts, with an identical pattern of success in both the Round of 16 and the quarter-finals in 2018 and 2022. However Argentina are nearly as impressive, having become the first team to be involved in six penalty shootouts at the World Cup from their last outing, winning five and losing one.
As well as wanting to avoid a repeat of the tiebreaker, the Luka Modric-led side may have another incentive to clinch victory inside the allocated match time, with Argentina's susceptibility to conceding late goals this tournament.
This was all on full display against the Netherlands, when they let slip a two-goal lead to run the match into overtime, while both goals in their shock defeat to Saudi Arabia came as a result of a slow start to the second half. Australia also gave them a good run for their money, netting in the 77th minute and coming agonisingly close to an equaliser on multiple occasions.
Comparatively, Croatia may be looking to attack more to get a result as they have often been up to the task of scoring late on to equalise, having overcome deficits in both their knock-out matches and against Canada in the group stage.
Can France get it together defensively?
A weakness in Les Bleus' otherwise convincing road to the World Cup semi-finals has been their undermanned defence often coming undone, as they are yet to keep clean sheet in Qatar.
A nasty injury to Lucas Hernandez in their Group D opener against Australia proved a major blow to France's defensive stocks, as the likes of Lucas Digne and Presnel Kimpembe were already set to miss the tournament through injury.
While Theo Hernandez and Jules Kounde have since provided good cover in the two wide roles, the French backline have still have looked shaky on occasion, which included conceding inside 10 minutes against the Socceroos after getting caught on the counter-attack - Benjamin Pavard being dropped from the starting 11 after getting caught seriously out of position.
A moment of hesitancy from otherwise standout performer Raphael Varane against Tunisia allowed Wehbi Khazri to fire in the only goal of the match with ease, while his defensive partner Dayot Upamecano handballed inside the box to gift Poland a consolation goal in the Round of 16 and was lucky to get away with a clumsy challenge on Harry Kane at the edge of the penalty area in the quarter-finals.
It will be a tough task for the French to contain the unpredictable Moroccan front three of Sofiane Boufal, Hakim Ziyech and Youssef En-Nesyri, with the latter two netting one and two goals respectively at Qatar 2022.
Will durability be an issue for Morocco?
Morocco’s historic quarter-final victory against Portugal may have come at a price for the fairytale side of the 2022 tournament.
Captain and defensive backbone Romain Saiss was stretchered off in the 57th minute against the Portuguese, adding to an injury list which includes his central defensive partner Nayef Aguerd, who missed the quarter-final match, while midfield anchor Sofyan Amrabat was labelled an injury concern ahead of the game despite going on to play all 90 minutes.
The injuries to key players have only been compounded by the fatigue felt from progressing past their two highly fancied European opponents in Spain and Portugal in the knock-out stages.
“We're not going to hide it, we're tired,” Moroccan coach Walid Regragui said ahead of the quarter-finals.
“But when you go this far in the tournament you have to count on everybody in the squad. We won´t be looking for excuses, we are here on a mission.”
Having already secured a spot in the last 16, France had the luxury of resting a number of key players in their final group match against Tunisia, while Morocco still needed a result against the eliminated Canada to qualify above Belgium or Croatia in their group.
While France sealed both of their knock-out matches in regular time, Morocco had to grind through a scoreless 120 minutes against Spain and the dreaded penalty shootout to progress to the final eight.
With a potential Group F rematch against Croatia awaiting in the final, the Atlas Lions will be counting on injuries and fatigue to not derail their chances of clinching a once unforeseeable World Cup finals berth.
