What TV channel is Croatia v Morocco airing on? Kick-off time, free live stream and talkSPORT coverage of 2022 World Cup third-place play-offs

Croatia and Morocco will face each other in the play-offs for third place in the World Cup this weekend after suffering crushing defeats in the semi-finals.

Both nations defied all expectations to qualify for the last four but Argentina and France proved too good.

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Morocco lost 2-0 to the defending champions, but put in a brilliant performance that was worth it, and no matter what happens in this match, they will go home as the best African team in the World Cup.

Meanwhile, 2018 runners-up Croatia found Lionel Messi and co a step too far and lost 3-0.

And they will be looking to follow up their second-place finish at the last World Cup with third-place here.

It’s a game neither team would have wanted to play, but you can expect the two to go into a rematch of their group clash at the start of the tournament.

That match ended 0-0, but both teams have developed over the course of the World Cup, so we should be in for a treat ahead of Sunday’s final.

Croatia – Morocco: Kick-off date and time

The play-off for third place in the World Cup is scheduled for Saturday, December 17.

Kick-off at the Khalifa International Stadium in Al Rayyan is scheduled for 6 p.m. local time, or 3 p.m. UK time.

Croatia v Morocco: How to watch on TV

The penultimate match of the World Cup will be shown on BBC One with coverage starting at 2.30pm.

The match will be streamed for free and can also be streamed on BBC iPlayer.

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Croatia v Morocco: how to listen on the radio

Full match coverage from the Khalifa International Stadium will be live on talkSPORT, ramping up from 1pm.

Alex Crook will be your host, while Nigel Adderley and Stuart Pearce will form your commentary team.

talkSPORT.com will also have a dedicated blog.

Croatia v Morocco: Squads and news

Both teams could choose to rotate their squads in this game, but Morocco will likely be without several players.

Nayef Aguerd was included in the starting XI against France before being withdrawn before kick-off due to a lingering injury.

Romain Saiss was substituted in the first half after trying to tackle a hamstring problem, while Noussair Mazraoui was taken off at half-time.

But Walid Cheddira will be available after serving a one-game suspension.

Meanwhile, Croatia are set to be without Marcelo Brozovic after experiencing an unknown malaise against Argentina.

And Josko Gvardiol received injections to solve a foot problem.

Croatia

• Goalkeepers: Dominik Livakovic, Ivica Ivusic, Ivo Grbic
• Defenders: Domagoj Vida, Dejan Lovren, Borna Barisic, Josip Juranovic, Josko Gvardiol, Borna Sosa, Josip Stanisic, Martin Erlic, Josip Šutalo
• Midfielders: Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic, Marcelo Brozovic, Mario Pasalić, Nikola Vlasic, Lovro Majer, Kristijan Jakic, Luka Sucic
• Forwards: Ivan Perisic, Andrej Kramaric, Bruno Petkovic, Mislav Orsic, Ante Budimir, Marko Livaja

Morocco

• Goalkeepers: Yassine Bounou, Munir Mohamedi, Ahmed Reda Tagnaouti
• Defenders: Achraf Hakimi, Noussair Mazraoui, Roman Saiss, Nayef Aguerd, Badr Benoun, Jawad El Yamiq, Achraf Dari, Yahia Attiyat Allah
• Midfielders: Sofyan Amrabat, Amine Harit, Azzedine Ounahi, Ilias Chair, Selim Amallah, Yahya Jabrane, Abdelhamid Sabiri, Bilal El Khannous
• Forwards: Hakim Ziyech, Youssef En-Nesyri, Abderrazak Hamdallah, Abde Ezzalzouli, Sofiane Boufal, Zakaria Aboukhlal, Walid Cheddira

Croatia v Morocco: what has been said?

Moroccan coach Walid Regragui after the defeat against France: “At a World Cup, it was maybe a bit too far. Not in terms of quality or tactics, but physically we missed tonight

“We had too many players at 60% or 70%. With our whole team in shape, we could have caused them a lot of problems.

Croatia v Morocco: The facts of the match

• This is the second meeting between Croatia and Morocco in this World Cup, after a 0-0 draw on MD1. Croatia were limited to five shots, their fewest in a World Cup match.
• Croatia have kept a clean sheet in their previous three World Cup matches against African sides, beating Cameroon 4-0 in 2014, Nigeria 2-0 in 2018 and drawing 0-0 with Morocco this year .
• None of the last 19 World Cup third-place play-offs have been sanctioned, with only one being settled in extra time (France v Belgium in 1986). A European nation has won this match in each of the last 10 editions of the tournament, since Brazil’s 2-1 victory over Italy in 1978.
• This is Croatia’s second play-off for third place in the World Cup, having beaten the Netherlands 2-1 in the 1998 edition.
• Regardless of the result, Morocco taking part in this game is the farthest an African nation has ever reached in World Cup history.
• Croatia conceded as many goals in their 3-0 semi-final loss to Argentina as in their previous five matches at the 2022 World Cup combined. They have also faced more shots than any other team in this tournament (75)
• Morocco conceded more goals in their 2-0 semi-final loss to France than they had conceded in their previous five appearances at this combined World Cup (1). They could still become the eighth team to keep up to five clean sheets in a single tournament, after the Netherlands (1974), Italy (1990), Brazil (1994), France (1998), Germany (2002), Italy (2006) and Spain (2010).
• Luka Modric, 37, played in all six of Croatia’s games at this World Cup. Only goalkeepers Peter Shilton (1990) and Dino Zoff (1982) played more games in a single edition when they were aged 37 and over (7 for both).
• Ivan Perisic has scored six World Cup goals for Croatia – one more would make him their top scorer in the competition, overtaking Davor Suker.
• The Moroccan Azzedine Ounahi made 77% of his confrontation attempts during the 2022 World Cup (10/13), the highest rate of any player to have attempted at least 10.