Croatia has never won a knockout match at a European Championship. And if that sounds strange, given that they always seem to be above their weight, what about this: the last (and only) time they smack anyone in a major tournament in 90 minutes after the group stage was 26 years ago in France (Romania and Germany). In Qatar, they even qualified for the semi-finals after winning only one match before extra time or penalty strikeouts – against Canada – and not playing any of their opponents in any of the other four matches.
Still, their home audience was spoiled by ridiculous successes and now more or less the same is expected from the team in Germany. This time, however, things look worse than before the previous tournaments – and this does not mean that the qualification for the Vatreni was quite pathetic.
Zlatko Dalic’s team lined up in the 4-3-3, with 4-2-3-1 as a backup plan. There have been a lot of suggestions that three at the back would suit this group of players more, but that’s not going to happen as long as Luka Modric is there and most likely behind the scenes.
And although building the team around the (aging) captain still makes sense, it means that other important and fit players are being pushed out of their comfort zone. Thus, Josko Gvardiol’s hybrid role at Manchester City cannot be repeated with the national team, so Dalic will have to choose in the middle of him as a center back or left back.
Andrej Kramaric is brilliant for Hoffenheim, who act as a midfielder lower down the pitch, but with Croatia he is forced to operate either on the wing or up front. Bruno Petkovic, who likes to retire and play in the middle of the lines for Dinamo Zagreb, should also play a much more traditional striker role. In addition, many players have had fitness or health issue problems this Season and there is some uncertainty regarding this final phase.
On Monday, the preparation at least started well with a 3-0 win over North Macedonia, with Lovro Majer scoring two of the goals.
Coach
“We want Croatia to be happy, good and proud again,” Zlatko Dalic said after his Euro squad was announced. “We have set the bar very high with three medals in five years, and this Level is not realistic [in the long term],” he added, taking into account last year’s Nations League Final, which Croatia lost on penalties to Spain, in this statistic. The team has indeed enjoyed tremendous success under him, but over the years his populist PR routines have declined somewhat among Fans and (at least some) players. This will probably be his last tournament as a national coach and he certainly aims to go up (another) high.
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It’s Luka Modric, of course. In September, he will be 39 years old, has been playing for the national team for 18 years and has amassed more than 170 caps. And while at Real Madrid they have carefully managed his performances throughout the season, he will be overworked again for Croatia this summer. “Limiting Luke’s performances doesn’t do him any good,” Dalic says of everything. “He has to be out there every game, which makes him even superior. We always expect him to be our leader.”As things stand, Croatia also relies on the Maestro for his singing vocals.