The chances of the winning the World Cup might have gone for Croatia and Morocco, but "immortality" is at stake when the two teams meet in Saturday's third-place playoff.

That's according to Croatia forward Andrej Kramaric, who dispelled the notion it would be a meaningless contest at Khalifa International Stadium.

"I think if you ask this question to Moroccan players, I don't think they will look that way," Kramaric said at a news conference Thursday."They're fighting for their lives because if you win a medal at a World Cup you become an immortal hero in your country. That's the same thing we are going to do."

The third-place game is still competitive for the defeated semifinalists. Both Croatia and Morocco would rather be gearing up for Sunday's finale but that doesn't mean we won't have an exciting 90 minutes on Saturday.

Croatia vs Morocco Analysis
Croatia all tournament has prioritized being stout defensively and in the midfield since it can't punish teams in many ways offensively. The longer it can draw out games for at least a point in group play and a penalty shootout in the knockout rounds, the better. But against the wrong team, that strategy can backfire, as Argentina showed. Lionel Messi and Julian Álvarez proved to be too much to handle, and the Vatreni had just two shots on target in 12 attempts.

But how did the team beat Brazil? With stout goalkeeping, as Dominik Livaković logged 11 saves, Brazil had 11 shots on target in regulation and extra time. The expected goals from the Brazil win versus the Argentina loss tell you two things: Croatia should have lost in the quarterfinals and its lack of goals would cost them. This time it was the latter. Croatia's performances just weren't sustainable to win games. Brazil's style was, given the number of chances it produced, but that's the nature of knockout football.

Morocco is in the same boat. The Atlas Lions have better attacking outlets than Croatia, but they don't have the ability to sustain pressure like the Vatreni. It's why they were ranked 31st in expected goals created in the tournament after beating Spain in a penalty shootout after being tied 0-0 through 120 minutes.

Similarly to Croatia, the Atlas Lions have a sturdy four-man backline that had seen Yassine Bounou not concede a goal from the opposition in the first five matches. The only one was an own goal against Canada. Currently, injuries to center backs Nayef Aguerd and Romain Saïss were worrisome, but they got past Portugal unscathed before losing to France. Achraf Hakimi and Noussair Mazraoui are also the best fullback duo left among the four nations.

Croatia vs Morocco Predictions
To get a handle on this game we're going to look back at recent trends, going across the past five third-place games at World Cups. In those five games, we've seen 19 goals, with all but one seeing Over 2.5 goals.

It's also worth noting that in four of those five games, it's been the more established, widely acclaimed team that has won. The only real exception is Brazil's loss to the Netherlands in 2014, which even then is questionable.

That's one of the reasons that I'll be betting Croatia to win. The Croatian team come into this game having one extra day of rest, having played on Tuesday. That is key, especially with Morocco having a number of players with knocks and minor injuries.

The manner of their semifinal defeats will have an impact, too. Croatia were outclassed and their exit didn't seem to elicit quite the same tidal wave of emotion that we saw from Morocco. It's fair to wonder if that extreme emotional reaction will make it harder to get motivated for this third-place game.

Croatia are a better, more experienced team, and with both teams now out of contention for the real prize, I'm expecting them to let off the handbrake and play more freely and more attacking.