This is how the teams reach the semifinals of the Qatar 2022 World Cup

This Tuesday the semifinals of the Qatar 2022 World Cup begin with four teams that represent very different styles.

Argentina is the team that dominates possession the most, although it does not translate it as much on occasions as France, the team that makes the most shots per game (15.6).

At the other extreme, Croatia and Morocco stand out for their safety at the back.

The Moroccans are the team that recovers the most balls (22.8 per game) and the Croatian goalkeeper, Dominik Livakovic, is the one who has made the most saves in the tournament (19, not counting penalty shootouts).

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Who are we going with now and why?

According to the statistics, Argentina and France are favorites in their qualifiers against Croatia and Morocco respectively.

La Albiceleste is the team in the best shape according to the ELO ranking.

This statistic ranks teams based on various data and gives them a score that symbolizes their potential.

However, their distance with Croatia is no greater than the one in the previous round between the checkers and Brazil, and it was Modric's men who claimed victory.

Morocco continues to be the team with the lowest score in the ELO ranking, but it comes closer than ever to the defending champions.

The favoritism of Argentina and France is based mainly on their offensive potential and on the great moment of their stars, Lionel Messi (four goals and two assists) and Kylian Mbappé (five goals and two assists).

However, Croatia and Morocco are far ahead of them defensively.

The Frenchmen have conceded in all their World Cup matches and the Albiceleste have conceded four goals with six shots on target, more than double the expected goals, according to data from Opta.

This statistic calculates the probability that an action ends in a goal taking into account variables such as the position of the shot, the type of shot or the position of the goalkeeper.

In this area, Croatia and Morocco are real experts.

The checkers have conceded less than half of the expected goals, and the Moroccans, almost a fifth.

The confrontation between such opposite styles points to efficiency as the decisive factor in the semifinals.

In the round of 16 and in the quarterfinals, Argentina had a hard time beating Australia and the Netherlands despite shooting 27 times, the most in the qualifiers, one out of three on target.

11 of them were the work of Leo Messi, the player who made the most shots, author of a goal in both games.

Croatia also struggled to convert against Japan, but against Brazil, they scored with their only shot on target.

In the other tie, the team that shoots the most against the one that steps into the opponent's area the least faces off.

Counting their round of 16 and quarter games, France have hit between the three sticks more than half of their shots and one in five has ended in a goal.

Morocco scored fewer shots between their two games against Spain and Portugal than France did against Poland, but maintains the same ratio of one goal for every five shots on target.

The French star, Kylian Mbappé, had a discreet performance against England in the quarterfinals and this was noted in his team's offensive production.

The PSG striker is the most decisive player in the World Cup, followed by his teammate, Lionel Messi.

Both have been involved in more than double the number of goals scored and assisted players from Croatia or Morocco.

Mbappé also has other teammates with a high participation such as Olivier Giroud (four goals) and Antoine Griezmann (three assists).

No team depends as much in attack on a player as Argentina does on Messi.

Half of the Albiceleste's plays that have ended in shots have gone through their boots (32 of 68).

France and Argentina have the two most in-form strikers at the World Cup, but Croatia and Morocco have the two best goalkeepers.

Croatian Livakovic is the hero of his team so far with his saves in penalty shootouts against Japan and Brazil.

His display against Canarinha lasted the entire game with 11 saves, the record for this World Cup.

His average number of saved shots on goal is the highest in the tournament, 86.4% (19 of 22).

Up front, Emiliano Martínez offers the lowest figures of all the goalkeepers, with four goals conceded in six shots on target (16.7% saves).

In the eighth and quarter, he only made one save and conceded three goals.

His redemption came in the penalty shootout against the Netherlands with two decisive saves.

In the other duel, the numbers point to a greater number of saves by the Frenchman Lloris, who was especially demanded in his quarterfinal match against England.

However, the French goalkeeper has not managed to keep his goal to zero in any game, while the Moroccan Bono has saved all the shots from the rivals, including three penalties in the shoot-out against Spain.

Luis Enrique's men reached the round of 16 as the highest scoring team in the tournament, and fell to zero.

Portugal also had more goals than anyone else in the quarterfinals, and suffered the same fate.

Bono was voted man of the match in both qualifiers, but the work of keeping a clean sheet was spread all over the field.

Morocco is the team with the most players leading the list of recovered balls and blocked attempts.

The rivals can hardly shoot properly, and for this reason only eight of the 44 shots he has received have gone between the three sticks (17.8%).

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