Men's National Teams

Lionel Messi showed the world once again that he’s in arguably the best form of his career. Aging like a fine wine, Messi got a goal and an assist vs. Croatia in Argentina’s 3-0 World Cup semifinal victory on Tuesday.

His goal came from the penalty spot in the 34th minute, but the assist. Oh, that glorious assist. That one came in the 69th minute.

Messi assist vs Croatia

Leading 2-0, Messi and Julián Álvarez put the nail in the coffin with about 20 minutes to go. The 35-year-old maestro looked like he was a young 20-something again with a dazzling run.

Lionel Messi's recent World Cup past has been synonymous with infamous performances from Argentina's strikers. 

In the 2014 final, Gonzalo Higuaín was Argentina's worst player, slicing a glorious opportunity wide and failing to check his run on an offside goal. In 2018, Sergio Agüero fought with manager Jorge Sampaoli and got dropped. 

After a devastating loss against Croatia in the World Cup semifinals, Brazil has started their hunt to replace former coach Tite with perhaps the most successful European club manager ever reportedly in the mix.

Recent reports have placed current Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti as the one of the Brazilian Football Federation's (CBF) top candidates to lead their squad into the 2026 World Cup.

After a controversial and emotionally charged quarterfinal round (who could've predicted that?), the 2022 FIFA World Cup semifinal referees have been announced before Tuesday and Wednesday's matches of Argentina vs. Croatia and France vs. Morocco, respectively.

World Cup semifinal referees

On Tuesday, the Argentina vs Croatia ref is Italian Daniele Orsato. You know he's legit because he took charge of Qatar's opener and Ecuador won it 2-0. He was also in charge of Argentina's victory over Mexico.  

DOHA - Croatia will not attempt to stop Argentina superstar Lionel Messi by man-marking him but instead will focus on immobilizing the entire team in their World Cup semifinal on Tuesday, they said.

Croatia are bidding to make it to the final for the second World Cup in a row after losing in the 2018 showcase match to France.

They stunned tournament favorites Brazil in the quarterfinals after going a goal down in extra-time but dug deep to bounce back with a late equalizer and force a penalty shootout that they ended up winning.