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Euro 2020 Team Preview - CROATIA

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Croatia will be hoping to emulate their 2018 World Cup heroics at the Euros

Betting odds to win the Euros
33/1
Best Euros
Quarter finals 1996 & 2008 
2016 Euros
Round of 16

Croatia's Euro Schedule

Date Fixture Location
13th June 2pm England v Croatia Wembley
18th June 5pm Croatia v Czech Republic Glasgow
22nd June 8pm Croatia v Scotland Glasgow
Click here to read a full Group D preview

Road to the Euros

Croatia’s qualifying group was an extremely competitive one and their qualification was not a foregone conclusion at any point. Despite that, they topped the group with five wins from eight, scored more goals than anyone else with 17 to their name and their defence was the tightest of the five teams with just seven goals conceded. Despite qualification seeming like a straightforward enough process come the end, much was riding on their final two games. They trailed Slovakia for 56 minutes and made tough work of a 1-1 draw in Wales. Had those games gone a little differently, Wales and Slovakia, who finished three and four points behind Croatia respectively, would have pipped them.

Current form

Since qualifying, Croatia have won just four times in 14 games. They’ve been thoroughly outclassed by top level opposition such as Portugal and France on multiple occasions, and although their final warm-up game was only a 1-0 loss to Belgium, it was a very one-sided affair in terms of attempts on goal and Croatia had a lot of meaningless possession that Belgium were able to soak up comfortably. More recently, Croatia have played five matches in the past three months and have suffered a defeat to Slovenia as well as a draw with Armenia. Furthermore, an unconvincing 1-0 home win over Cyprus did not offer much promise of better things to come.

Squad assessment

Croatia is very different looking side to the one seen at the  2018 World Cup. Household names like Mandzukic have moved on and leave an obvious gap, but they still have some quality and depth. There is plenty of competition in the middle of the pitch with five extremely talented options for Zlatko Dalic to pick from. Brozovic, Modric, Kovacic, Pasalic and Vlasic are all vying for starts, whilst the experienced Rebic and Perisic are likely to feature in the wider areas. Although Andre Kramaric has had a very good season in Germany, Croatia are lacking up front with the next best option being Osasuna’s Ante Budimir.

Key players

Domagoj Vida has been around the block a few times and he’ll need to lead from the back for Croatia. His tournament experience could be crucial. Luka Modric is the standout talent in this group and everything will continue to revolve around him. He’ll need to use the ball well and make sure those in front of him get good service, but he has a strike or two up his sleeve and he’ll be important on set pieces. A less obvious hero is Marcelo Brozovic, arguably one of the world’s best in his possession. He’ll need to protect the back four and make sure he finds Modric in space as often as possible.

Click below to read more about each of Croatia's Group D opponents:

England, Czech Republic, Scotland

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