How has Argentina fared in the World Cup semifinals?

Argentina went to the semis with mettle and Dibu Martínez as a hero 10:41

(CNN Spanish) --

The grand final of the World Cup in Qatar is just a few days away: on Sunday, December 18, we will find out who will be the next champion of soccer's most important competition.

However, before that happens, we first need to know who will be the two guests of the highest appointment at the selection level.

Those two places will be defined this Tuesday and Wednesday in the Qatar 2022 semifinals: Argentina will face Croatia in the first key, while in the second the match will be between France and Morocco.

The Croatian national team will play their third semifinal in history on Tuesday.

The first was played in 1998, when they lost against France;

and the second was in 2018, the year in which they beat England to advance to the final against France (the game they lost: they were runners-up).

• The strengths and weaknesses of Croatia against Argentina

For their part, the French will play this Wednesday the seventh semifinal in their history.

In the previous six, France achieved a record of three defeats (in 1958, 1982 and 1986) and three victories (in 1998, the year of its first world title; in 2006; and 2018, which ended in its second world title).

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Likewise, Morocco will play this Wednesday what will be the first semifinal in its history and the first semifinal for an African team in a major World Cup.

• Achraf Hakimi and Kylian Mbappé are already experiencing the crossing for the semifinals between France and Morocco

And how has Argentina fared in the World Cup semifinals?

According to data from the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF), Argentina's senior men's team has reached five semifinals in its history and Qatar 2022 will be the sixth.

Although there are other teams with the same or greater number of semifinals played, the Albiceleste is the only one with the following statistics: they have never lost a World Cup semifinal.

1. World Cup in Uruguay 1930

The first was played in the first FIFA World Cup in history.

Argentina won 6-1 against the United States;

however, they lost the final against the local team of Uruguay.

2. Argentina World Cup 1978

The second was in the 1978 World Cup, although there was no semifinal as such here.

This tournament was played in the modality of two group phases: in the first, 16 teams were divided into four groups and the best two from each zone advanced to the second group phase;

In that next phase, the eight remaining teams were divided into two groups, A and B, in which the best two of each advanced to the World Cup final and the two second places played for third place.

Argentina was in first place in group B with 7 units, the same as Brazil but with a better goal difference (+8 for the Argentines and +5 for the Brazilians), with which they managed to reach the final against the Netherlands and win his first World Cup.

Argentina's third match in group B was against Peru and they won it 6-0;

if they hadn't scored like that, perhaps Brazil would have qualified for better goal difference, so we could say that the game against the Peruvians was a kind of semifinal for the albiceleste.

3. Argentina World Cup 1986

Probably the most remembered World Cup for Argentines, in which they were crowned world champions for the second time at the hands of the genius Diego Armando Maradona.

In this tournament, Argentina won the semifinal against their similar Belgium by a score of 2-0.

The albiceleste won the grand final 3-2 against West Germany.

4. World Cup in Italy 1990

Argentina sought the two-time world championship in Italy 1990 at the hands of captain Maradona, and they were about to achieve it.

It was all illusion when in the semifinals the albiceleste managed to beat Italy, the host team, on penalties.

However, the coronation could not come true, as Germany beat the Argentines 1-0 in the final.

5. Brazil World Cup 2014

The last semifinal disputed by the Argentines occurred in the 2014 World Cup, when they now advanced hand in hand with soccer star Lionel Messi.

That year, Argentina won the semifinal against the Netherlands on penalties, after they tied 0-0 in regular time and in extra time.

Despite this victory, Messi's albiceleste fell 1-0 in the final against Germany in overtime.

Ahead, is his sixth semifinal.

Croatia arrives inspired with a 37-year-old Luka Modrić in a state of grace, but Argentina is led by a 35-year-old Messi who is commanding the albiceleste boat better than ever and who is also in his best form in the last year.

Time will tell if the undefeated semifinalist continues.

Argentina National Team World Cup