Route to Russia:
Croatia made it harder than it needed to be for a nation of their talent.
Everyone’s second team Iceland topped the qualifying group and so the Croatians had to settle for second place – just ahead of the Ukraine and Turkey.
Interestingly, they only scored more than twice in a game once during qualifying – a 6-0 win over Kosovo, but the goals did flow in their play-off against Greece.
A 4-1 win in Zagreb coupled with a 0-0 draw in Athens got them to Russia.
How far can they get:
They’re certainly dark horses.
Possessing players like Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic, it’s a team capable of giving anyone in the competition a tough time.
They have a group they can progress from, but will need to learn from the qualifying stages with Iceland once again coming up against them.
As well as that, Nigeria join them in group D and Argentina who have arguably the best attacking options of all the nations in Russia.
Manager:
Zlatko Dalić was largely unknown as he arrived from UAE club football but Croatia were starting to get worried about qualifying for the tournament this summer.
He eventually guided them through to the finals, though, and will be looking to increase his stock considerably with a good run.
This is by far his biggest gig, too, his playing career peaked for Varteks in the 90’s whilst managerial wise his longest stint at a club has been three years for Al Ain.
One to watch:
There’s plenty of talent in the side but Luka Modric has to be the one to watch.
Ivan Rakitic, Mateo Kovacic, Mario Mandzukic and Ivan Perisic will all star but Modric is one of the best midfielders in the world.
If he can get the Croatians moving and control games they’re going to be a handful.
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