Croatia’s group stage path at next summer’s Euro 2020 tournament is now set.
The Vatreni will open up their campaign against England in London on June 14th. Croatia then travel north to Glasgow, Scotland to face the Czech Republic on June 14th before their Group D finale takes place against Playoff C winner June 23rd. The playoff winner will be determined in March between Israel, Serbia, Scotland or Norway.
No matter who the playoff team is, Croatia will be favored to finish top-2 in group and move onto the knockout rounds. However, Croatian fans will be rooting for the Vatreni NOT to finish first in this group.
Why?
The nation that finishes first in Group D will have to play the runner-up from Group F in the Round of 16. Group F is already slated as the ‘Group of Death’ with Germany, France, and Portugal. You definitely want to avoid that group.
Remember, at the 2018 World Cup, if Croatia would have finished behind Argentina, they would have had to play eventual champions France in the Round of 16. Paths do matter at these tournaments, folks.
If you’re looking at the Euro 2020 bracket early, you do not want Croatia to top England’s group.
This yank gets it at the 1 minute mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c9hyO_KLb8
I think most of us are not bothered by England. Considering we have been relatively successful against them recently. Even in our away loss, we played alright.
Like we are saying, not even sure we want first place, but you can bet we will go all out for the statement win.
ZDS
I’m not bothered by England.
If you have to play a top seed at a major tournament, you want to play them in the first game. They will be nervous, trust me.
No one will give us a sniff beating the poms on their own turf.
If you want to be the best, you have to play the best.
There’s a ton of Cro’s in the UK and Ireland. We will be represented anywhere we have to go. Not to mention the others that will travel from North America and Australia.
The more the odds are stacked against us, the better we play.
Our problem is when we have so called easy games, that’s when we’re mentally fragile.
ZDS!!!!!!
England the favorites? Hilarious. Problem for them is they have to play the 2nd round and QF at a neutral site. And if they win the group, they would play probably Germany or France in Dublin. Good luck with that. And Croatia is a favorite below Portugal? First of all, Portugal is grouped with France and Germany and second, Croatia is much better.
Didn’t we lose to Scottland once no twice?
We have to play the Serbs. Historic and wonderful
the odds are in
https://www.croatiaweek.com/bookies-make-croatia-9th-favourites-to-win-euro-2020/
Maybe the fans should riot if another
Fake call is made. Attack the ref !
If Trump would build a resort in
Croatia maybe we could get his ear lol
ZDS!
I have no interest in Serbia. While I am confident we would win, I agree with AB, that it is not worth the extracurricular attention.
With revisionist histories easily advanced by the fakenews media, I am certain that one day some fake journalist will successfully declare Croatians as oppressors in the war.
ZDS
I don’t understand why anyone would want to play Serbia in the group stages. The build up to playing them would be obviously massive (press, emotion, pressure etc), almost like playing a final early in the tournament and it would take a mental toll on the players, unnecessary.
All we want to do is cruise through the Group stages.
ZDS
Croatians love conspiracy theories
Razbijac s 100% correct..neka bog copa grob for these javols..im 50+ my cro spelling isnt that great but we will never win with sick fifatards bent on fucking smaller nations even though were the kings of football talent..i feel sorry for us hardcore fans of our vatreni on here..fuck comeon trump ..call an apb on the fifa crooks.
Maybe were the scapegoat for prince andrew..just sayin..If melania trump was a true cro who loved soccer she would convince the DON of the corruption to target crooks in fifa and direct cia fbi to literally target these shits fucking with honest soccer..No fly zone for any fifa reps..
Dalic really needs to step this one out
One misstep and we are gone
They want us gone because we are on the cusp
This is all rigged if ya ask me!
How is it that Croatia has opened up 2 of the last 4 major tourneys against the host nation!!!???
I feel like Croatia is being utilized as the Sacrificial Lamb to satisfy the host nation’s appetite for victory. And Croatia is a good enough footballing nation, where beating them means something. They would never do this to one of the FIFA darlings such as France or Germany.
The only answer is to come up with Our very own script. And play out of our minds, despite the calls against us and phantom penalties—-like we did in ‘08 vs England.
Then its a matter of how much they(eng)payed off fifa or vice versa to get the right calls.free kick near box.pen kick.red card on us for nothing..so were fucked even though we rule the bastardized eng on paper..yes were screwed by an evil ref who has the plans in his evil hands as of now!!!
The English wanted us done at the WC as well- how did that work out for them- fear nothing , boys-
We’ll bring our slingshot and rocks – and Goliath can snort and scream all he wants- we just need one rock
It’s an English plan to get back at us
They have a pathological hatred of us like the Serbs
They are a revengeful type of race
England is going to rock Croatia. They can’t wait to play us.
England are playing a home game against us.
They have great young players.
We beat them in the semi’s.
England is supper exited. I rather have gotten drawn worth France or Germany
Ante, I agree that you want to avoid the big dogs at these tournaments early in the knockout stages, but if we finish 2nd in the group and won our round of 16 match we’d end up having to play winner of group F in quarter final. We’ve proven that Croatia are not minnows and that our goal is to win the damn thing, and if you want to do that you’re gonna have to beat the heavyweights, give me 3 points against England without hesitation.
@hgif up above
yes bad serbs are chetniks fuckin wih hrvats..thats true but i will bet there is more than a few hrvats on this site who have relatives of cro serb relatives..so..they are not the problem..its serb politics.Back to soccer related business..yes fifa have the refs in their back pocket..ma what can we do..watch our vatreni get fucked as usual..so yebiga lets watch our boys play fantastic nogomet.
@ Crnkovic
I don’t touch the comments. Sometimes they get caught in the spam filter, especially if you post a link.
Fear no one- guys- they tried to screw us badly at the World Cup- we just kept coming- we took so many bad calls and moved forward- let’s not forget that- yes- they eventually wore us down with France – we always have to play the team in front of us and the refs- we know that –
My cousins were at England game at the WC- the English just couldn’t handle the ball movement and the changes from short pass to long passes – they were completely off their game because we had a superior game plan
We have to accept that we are a superior soccer nation- thats it – no one can deny- Lika #1
most of them don’t even know how to read serbian alphabet explains a lot too, at least in russia, which is the serbian america, they publish read and write in their own alpHabet, hahaha. pahetic serbo balkanoids.
serbs are such a shit culture and society, they nevermind their own vast corruption and prostets, political and journalists killings, arms sales to dictators and shitty african warlords countries, russian spies and blaming all others for ruining theirrightful greater serbostan, it seems now even luka modric is behind paying croatian spies spying on serbia, lol, back to the old serbian tradition of lying and lying to cover lies, lol, can it get any more absurdly pathetic in serboabsurdistan? https://www.jutarnji.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/bizarna-obavjestajna-haranga-s-druge-strane-dunava-srbi-za-peglanje-afera-predsjednika-vucica-iskoristili-i-luku-modrica/9689857/
Truth Troll says, “ Croatia could definitely find themselves not advancing, although odds are they will”.
Nobody responds.
In like 7 months, he then claims he predicted what happened (no matter what happens) and that everyone was against him when he did.
Why are we going to play “ Group F “ if Croatia is in “ Group D “??????
I thought we will play “ Group E “ ???
May someone please explain this to me !
I actually think the Croatia/England game will be very cautious from both sides. Think about it, both teams know that 4 points will get them through to the knockout stages. They also know that winning the group gets them a meeting with Germany, France or Portugal in the 2nd round. So there is no urgency in the first game. Both teams will be happy with a point, then take full points from the Czechs and the playoff team. And it may come down to goal differential to decide who wins the group.
we are scared of the ptb..peeple sheeple refs fifa ..imo who are told to fuck us small great nations like hrvatska so they can make more doe ray me off the bigger nations..thats all..cro as our soc cer team sits can go against ..anyone..anywhere..anytime..not withstanding monkey business or the proverbial monkey wrench in the gears of our great cro soccer team machine..bottom line refs will fuck us..yeboga wrog!!
@Crotown
I think you’re misunderstanding the comments.
Nobody here is scared of anyone. We just don’t like BS games…and this opening match in England has high potential of being one.
Our opening World Cup 2014 match against Brazil (in Brazil) was terrible. To see such a fantastic defensive Croatian display, only for the ref to call for a bogus penalty. Worse of all, he calls a foul on an Olic play to get one of our goals called back after that. Gave Brazil a goal, and took one away from us.
Most of us know that this is what waits for us in Wembley.
We will definitely outplay England on a technical level. This is without a doubt. But you will see foul calls, momentum-shifting play stoppage, and even a penalty called to favor England.
The game can’t be a close one. We will have to demolish them like we did in Euro2008 qualifying (and even that game, England was granted a penalty and several calls to try and keep them in it).
Either way, it’s not a big deal…thanks to this incredibly stupid Euro format.
If we top the group, we cross over with the Group of Death…yet if we finish runners-up, we end up going up against another runner-up from a weak group!??!
So dumb.
#and you know im right
kvartuc. post my comments brother. freedom of speech
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQxwaVQWSbY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtjQNWr9tjA
@crotown. yes yes
Really surprised at the negative comments about Croatia at this
Euro- what are we scared of? My Dear old dad from Lika would have bashed anybody saying we can’t win- come on guys- were Croatians – didn’t we learn anything from World Cup- we have incredible talent and when were revved up with nationalistic fire – it’s game on- England ? Czechs? Who cares? We just can’t beat Armenia and anybody that crappy when it’s meaningless- were really good as David- not good as Goliath- get it?
i want to play them or Italy in toronto
since germany france and portugal cant play eachother in friendlies.. lets hope we can to play one of them in preparation
great group. Bring on the limeys and cetniks…though the cetniks wont get there…
They say bullshit baffles brains and we see this staged draw somehow with astronomical odds somehow include the potential of uncivilized chet fans not the team ..included in our group..hmm..smells like total govno or money involved!!!
Our vatreni are still gona be ok..they setup the potential that the serbs might be in our group on purpose just to distract from even more manipulated games..that mark my word..will happen..if the serbs qualify..their chetnik fans will cause trouble if and only if they qualify.
Just how fixed was this balls in a glass salad bowl bullshit total govno draw anyways ?anybody how did they pull the wool over our eyes AGAIN.!!!!
Serbia definitely does not have great individual players, lol.
Decent, but not great.
They have enough quality to make some offensive (and very predictable) runs on goal, but their midfield is not capable of playing on both ends. They suffer defensively and always leave themselves brutally open whenever they make a run. They don’t have guys like Brozović or Modrić who can do both.
They are essentially Slovakia v 2.0.
They will have trouble getting through two joke teams in Norway and Scotland/Israel. They should get through though, since the rosters of these teams are awful.
I do agree with you that there will be potential unnecessary off the field garbage, and nauseating and ignorant commentating from the media about this “rivalry”, lol.
Serbia isn’t on our level to have a rivalry with. The REAL rivalry is between us and England. It will be fun to watch that first game.
My prediction is a carbon copy of the game against Brazil in Brazil. England wins on a penalty flop called against Lovren.
I do not want Srbija in our group. Yes we have better team then they do. They really do have great individual players. It’s going to be disaster if we have to play them. All the media hype and shit, I want to avoid them for sure.
@Mile-That Netherlands path was a joke and got even easier with Portugal not getting into the mix.
Was looking forward to going to the Glasgow games. Hiking the highlands, playing some golf, and downing some pints sounded great, but purposely losing to Serbia in game 3 (to avoid France or Germany) would be too painful to watch.
And the Netherlands path is a joke. Three home games against OK teams, then they would play a 3rd place team in the 2nd round, then the 2nd A vs. 2nd B winner in the QF. Italy and Belgium will almost assuredly win group A and B, and the second place teams in those groups will be no problem for the Netherlands.
Israel vs Scotland…and Serbia vs Norway?
This Playoff C series is gonna be some UGLY football.
Wake me up with the scoreline after these games are over.
Serbia at Norway and Israel at Scotland. The winners play at the winner of Serbia/Norway. I’m guessing we play the winner of Serbia/Norway.
Serbs are Untermensch and
Would never be accepted in
The Gaylord nation.
can someone explain the playoff situation for the last remaining spot in our group to me?
who are the teams in contention and how are they playing off?
England is a marquee match for us to kick off our Euro party. The world will be watching for our unique brand of football.
@ Svima
I agree with the coming out party for many of our next generation of potential world class players:
Vlašić, Brekalo, Kovačić .. even a Barišić.
These boys are ready to seize that game as a platform to launch their careers onto the next level.
Dalic has to leave any out of form and tired legs from the starting 11.
England can run you off the pitch before you blink if you start off sluggish.
But once you get a rhythm for their quick tempo then you can move them around as they lack creativity in the middle.
Full disclosure, I am just happy we are in a major tournament after our historic World Cup run.
We have an opportunity to bring in the next generation into key spots in the squad to keep our flow going.
Every major tournament inspires the next generation of young footballers.
The squad should be filled out with young talent to gain experience.
Once again spinning our way.
Croats and Serbs are both white.
I applied for tickets months back not knowing who will play where and ended up with Germany vs France tickets, should be a easy sell
Basically, the difference between a Croatian and a Serbian is that no Serbian is named Mario, where as in Croatia, that’s a very popular name. That’s fucked up.
Who is going
I don’t have a cro Passport
I was too lazy to do paper work
Should Have listened to mama this time!
Can I only get tickets in neutral side? Which is basically all England
I applied on the UEFA site
Gonna be a party!
Not a great draw but could be a lot worse. Had a feeling we would draw England and as big a homer as I am, no I don’t expect points from that first game. That’s a tough spot but we can’t walk away from that game more than a goal or two at most down.The way I look at it, at least 4 pts from the 3 games is very doable and will get us through unless we give up a ton of goals. From there on, anything is possible. Dalic is a smart dude and knows what we are up against and has gotten players to respond unlike any other coach and that’s including Ciro. Will we make it to the finals again? Not sure. But I firmly believe we will not underachieve like we’ve done in the past. Ajmo decki, and yes I mean you Vlasic and Brekalo.
I forgot that Czech was in England’s qualifying group and actually won against them.
Didn’t watch the match, but maybe Czech cause England more problems than they do for us.
I’m glad we got the Czechs over some stubborn pot 3 team. We do very well against them and Slovakia. That Euro 2016 draw against them only happened because of the fans.
I like the group. World be be introduced to Brekalo and Vlasic. Hello Europe! We just fine. Win the group and let the chips fall where they may be. Eventually, we will play the the big guns. Oh wait, we are the big guns.
Vlašić gonna be man of the match against England.
First of all England didn’t impress me that much
In the Nations League matches. Dalic even
Said not to take to much out of that tournament.
However , I do remember what England did
To us in the 2010 WC qualifiers. However different
Team and mentality. We can bring it to England
But runner up might be better position for us.
I know there’s always a big turn out
But how do you feel about our fans travelling down there?
Hope it’s a super big turn out, flights from Zagreb are around 250$
I noticed something I don’t think anyone else has mentioned. Yes, if we win the group we play the runner up of the group of death, so France, Germany, or Portugal, but I think that the round of 16 could be the best time to play a big team like that. If we manage to beat England, then beat the Czech Republic, we can rest all of our starters for the final match and not care whether we get first or second in the group. Our second team absolutely can beat all 4 of the playoff teams (including Serbia). We beat Spain while resting half of our team the last time around. But if we do happen to win the group, we will play against a team that likely had to play their best lineup all three group stage matches and could have injuries or fitness issues. Sure, it would still be early so legs wouldn’t be as tired as later in the tournament, but I also think our pressing style with fresh players would be a very, very uncomfortable game for all of them. If we pressed Portugal in 2016, we would have beat them in my eyes. We sat back against a team that was hoping to counter attack us. Yes, it took them forever to score, but we hardly had anything either. I personally don’t mind when we play top teams.
What difference does it make if we play no one good until the semis and lose than losing to a top team in the round of 16. We need to be ready for everyone and I think we will be. I’m hoping our players are motivated to show that the World Cup was not just a fluke or luck of the draw. We performed very well in our last two tournaments, just a bit unlucky in both. We don’t get calls in our favor from the referee, but every team can beat that. If you take your chances, there’s little the referee can do about it.
WHY ENGLAND??? I’m not a conspiracies, but England is probably salivating at the chance to play us. They can’t wait. It’s going to be revenge time for England. Remember Euro 96 when we lost to Germany and in WC 1998, we COULDN’T WAIT TO PLAY GERMANY.
I don’t want Serbia in our group because a lot of attention will go towards bullshit. It’s not worth it.
If Croatia get runner up they will play the runner up of Spain’s group, which will be either Poland or Sweden. Ill take that runner up spot
Well if that is the case and since Luka
Most likely retires after the Euro he
Should call them out in public.
Not England again
Is that our first game too if so rigged
Don’t Jerko my Leko
It’s almost like an initiation phase, where in order for your team to be considered part of the elite class… You have to not only beat elite teams (like Croatia regularly does) but you have to do it with absolute conviction with outside factors working against you.
The Netherlands is similar to us in that they get regularly screwed by being drawn into Group of Deaths, both in qualifiers and tournaments.
However, it baffles me how Belgium and Switzerland are exempt from all this, and are regularly assisted by the refs and FIFA.
[insert globalist conspiracy theory here] 😉
This is gonna line up Croatia Vs France
In knockout stage. We will win I called it here.
Amazing we always have to temper down
Our aspirations because we are afraid of
Corrupt officiating. No other sport has this
Stigma. Why bother then , really?
Winner of our group plays runner up of Group F (Germany, Portugal, France). Runner up in the group likely gets an easier game.
Sucks that we play England first.
There is ZERO chance they let England lose that game.
At best, they will allow a draw.
We need to play out of our minds, and take a two goal lead, for us to win that one.
Hope it’s Serbs.
Us against the group of oppressors.
I want all 9 points!
Bring on Serbia. We can easily take them. It’s gonna be a fun group stage…Czech should be easy. If we put speedy players up top *cough cough Brekalo* against England we can destroy their back line.
It’s been another very solid day for Croatians. Our players have been on fire lately. Pašalić scores 2, Kramarić scores, even that youngster Ćuže scored vs. Dinamo finally. Antonio Marin got some playing time with the first team, Oršić with a goal and assist. Modrić plays a very solid game again. Lovren is playing again. Things are looking up. We look much better this season than we did last season.
its an interesting group. lots of fun to be playing England again. I will enjoy us playing any of scotland, israel and serbia. czechs are a waste of space at the moment. we need to beat them soundly to put to bed what happened at the last euros
Look at the bright side its an easy travel schedule no long flights (Baku).
This is a good group.
Czech will get beat up easily by Cro and England. Depending on who the fourth pot team is, it will likely be a two horse race in this group.
Serbia may be an issue off the field, but there’s no way they beat us. I just can’t see it. We have a decent coach and veteran players who have been in multiple tournaments. They don’t have us beat in any factor (including their overrated defense). Even if they manage a draw, there’s no way they beat England anyway (as i don’t really see us losing that one either).
However, it will be insanely difficult to top the group with the referee on England’s side.
I GUARANTEE their will be a penalty in their favor.
I can almost bet my soul on it.
We will need to do it like we did in Wembley and win by multiple goals, despite the ref trying desperately to give England penalties to tie it up.
ZDS race and nation !!!!
Tough group, but I love it!
If everyone stays healthy, we could go all the way.
Croat well said, brother! I hope we get Serbia…the emotions and energy will be epic!!!! Croatia always plays better at the euro then the world cup. I hope our luck changes at the euro because that’s what we have been lacking in the last few.
this group looks fine. England not a terrible pot 1 team to face (although in London a little unfair)… Czech one of the weaker teams and so is the playoff winner…so can’t complain… Croatia could definitely find themselves not advancing, although odds are they will
Yes exactly Croat!
If we find our team form and unity like we did in this past World Cup, I am ok with anyone. If we have issues and aren’t united as a team, we could lose and be disappointing. I feel good about our squad but I also know it’s a tournament and a lot depends on how well we gel and approach each game.
We’re in the second toughest group again.
youre right at the end of the day if we want to be the best we ahve to beat the best
In a 1 game situation, we can always do well. There’s a lot of soccer to play before we get there.
I’d never say “no problem “! We’ve lost and tied worse teams in this group. Let’s not get too confident, there’s a lot that can happen between now and our first game.
@slavonac,
If we top the group we will have to face someone from Group F
We will advance to knockout round no problem. Might even get to kick Serbia’s ass in the process.
Not a bad group for us.
I’d hate to be in group “F”!
Serbs can be in our group
Croatia face england. How is this not rigged?
they rigged thi man
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUDJJxhn6lo
ioioio
Draw starts at 12:25pm EST from Bucharest on ESPNews
I wouldn’t mind either the Germany group or the Italy group as I would like to go to Croatia this summer and those are the closest games.
Portugal is the toughest Pot 3 team, yes… However, you have to consider that if they are tough for us, then they would be tough for the Pot 1 team as well.
I expect us to step up and get revenge on Portugal too.
Turkey and Sweden would be stubborn opponents, capable of pulling off an upset draw and throwing the group into a funk. So, it’s not a walk in the park with them either.
But Czech and Austria are utter garbage.
It would be great to draw one of those two teams.
I also prefer the Italy group. With a Croatia vs Italy opener to the tournament in Rome. It would probably be the second most watched game after the final and give great exposure to the vatreni. Also our winning record with our neighbors is also a plus.
Oh and fuck Portugal it’s payback time for last time Euro.
I like your research. Well done. I will use it for the FB Live tomorrow.
My thoughts…as long as we avoid Portugal we’ll be fine. It’s a tight tournament with good teams. If you want to win it, you have to go through the elite. And we have the goods to do so…
Ante-my bad. I’ll correct…
Unlike 90% of “Croatians worldwide” and “Croatian fans all over Europe”, I will not be rooting for Germany’s group…
BZ,
When did I say that? We threw up a poll on Facebook. 90% of Croatians worldwide want German group.
Nice insight.
For the real deal always give thanks to BZ.
Unlike Ante, we would not be rooting for Germany’s group. Especially if Hungary wins Playoff Path A. This group would suck:
Germany (@home),
Croatia,
Portugal,
Hungary (@ home)
As a betting man, I’d want Group A for the best chance to go far. Why? Let me count the ways:
1) It’s Italy, we usually wop Italy!
2) Group A is the only group confirmed not to have 2 home teams.
3) Group A’s runner-up does not play another Group’s winner. It plays Group B’s runner-up (likely Russia, easier than most other potential opponents a runner-up would face.)
4) Group A’s winner likely to play Ukraine (not a team w home field advantage) or a lesser team. Group A’s winner plays Group C’s runner-up. (Holland will likely win Group C, even as a pot 2 team because it is a home, and better than Ukraine.)
So root for Group A! See you guys in Baku!