The Vatreni host group-leaders Portugal in Split on Monday at 2:45pm EST in what is now a crucial game for quarter-final qualification. Can Croatia change their woeful form against a Portuguese B-team, having sent Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva and Pedro Neto home? Zlatko Dalić has confirmed he will field a 3-back formation for this crucial encounter, in which the Vatreni NEED at least one point if they are to advance (should Scotland get a result against Poland).
Goalkeeper: Livaković will make his return in net following his questionable red-card offence against Poland’s Lewandowski.
Defenders: The back three of Gvardiol, Ćaleta-Car, and Šutalo will undoubtedly start this match. Gvardiol needs to be better for Croatia as he has been a completely different player in the checkers compared to his dominant self for Manchester City. DCC has enjoyed a positive re-entry to the National Team and has honestly been the best defender of the three as of late. Josip Šutalo has been hot and cold and hopes to retain some form against a speedy Portuguese side. Dalić has confirmed that Borna Sosa will start at the left wingback position with Ivan Perišić getting the start on the right-hand side. This duo brings some offensive upside but the defensive side of the field will often be left exposed. The match against Scotland saw some disgraceful play out of the back as our defenders often struggled to play around the press. Often we resorted to playing the goal-kicks between Kotarski and Ćaleta-Car and it did not look comfortable. Gvardiol and Šutalo were back-passing machines and the play usually resulted in Kotarski lofting the ball up the pitch. Hopefully this formation gives the players more room and options in build-up play because it often lead to poor mistakes in recent games.
Midfielders: Modrić and Kovačić are the go-to guys and will be again. Thankfully Modrić did not get a yellow card against Scotland and will once again be Croatia’s engine against Portugal. Kovačić had a quieter game but he has been instrumental to our midfield as of late. Expect Kramarić to be deployed behind the striker alongside one of Luka Sučić or Martin Baturina. Based off their recent performances, Sučić is likely the guy for the job as he performed pretty well against the Scots.
Striker: Dalić stated he will use a traditional striker for this match and Matanović’s lack of minutes for club as well as zero minutes against Scotland suggest he will sit. Expect Ante Budimir to see the pitch as he has enjoyed good form with Osasuna in LaLiga this season.
Do you like Dalić’s decision to revert to a back three? What is your prediction for the Portugal match? Can Croatia get a result against a (most likely) B-team?
Can someone pls do a wellness check on Iggy
Suspect he’s struggling today after Mika and Joe announced they went to kiss the ring over the weekend in order to “reset” the relationship
Also – rumours that Miocic been watching Bozo in 90 day fiancé – and subconscious absorption led to his slow, unsure, hesitate nature (just like Bozo) – not sure if true or not
I was hoping Batu would be rested for Dinamo’s upcoming Champions League game vs Dortmund.
HRVATSKA: Livaković – Šutalo, Ćaleta-Car, Gvardiol – Perišić, Kovačić, Modrić, Sosa – Kramarić, Baturina – Matanović
Confirmed Line-up
What the deal with Dalic’s continued insistence on not starting Budimir? He’s our only real inform striker (Outside of maybe Musa).
Don’t get me wrong, I like Matanović’s potential but he has shown that his finishing still needs work. Also he’s barely getting any time with his club…
Budimir will be a few days from 35 for the 2026 World Cup. These games are really just competitive friendlies building towards that. Need to work through the growing pains with Mantanovic in hope he’s really for the WC.
does anyone have a free game link that will work in canada thanks
many times B teams of the big soccer nations can be better and more dangerous than the A team, especially in a scenario where a team like portugal had nothing left to play for and their stars probably wouldn’t have played too hard.
many of these B players are likely just as good or even better than some of the “stars” that are hanging onto their spot based on legacy rather than current form like ronaldo
It’s a shame matanovic fell out of favor. I had questions about his longevity as I feel he faded over time, so maybe he is better as a last 30 minutes guy in the end but his physicality definitely was drawing attention mandzukic style, which is needed as Croatia has 0 speed and one on one ability to create those gaps and opportunities.
The refusal to play any wingers remains interesting.
Musa was the 9th leading scorer in MLS this season with 16 goals. Dalić must REALLY look down on the league to not give this guy another look.
90% of his goals with Dallas were similar to the ones he scored in Portugal. He makes a nice run, gets the ball played towards goal and then a great finish. On our National Team he makes a run and is ignored.
It’s upon the coaching staff to figure out why he looked so out of place when given a chance. There’s a reason he thrives at the club level. He doesn’t get the same service on the National Team level.
With “other” midfielders who are more creative on the current roster such as Baturina, P. Sučic and L. Sučić, I believe he would thrive…but we’ll never know.
MLS is not a good league. If you know nogomet you would know that.
There’s a guy named Mesi who has played there for 2 years. Still looks outstanding, doesn’t he? His skills haven’t declined as a result of playing there. It’s still better than HNS is.
Beggars can’t be choosers. He should have been given another look since we haven’t had a striker in 6 years.
We have Budimir who is the fifth top scorer in La Liga (arguably the world’s best league) and was in contention for pichichi last year until he got injured and fell behind. Croatia has had one of the best pure #9s in the world for a few years now. The problem is that Dalić hardly plays him! That will be the case again tonight. Budimir looks totally uncoordinated, but those of us who know the ins and puts of the game (possibly better than Dalić does?) can see that he has invented a new technique of heading the ball to win possession for himself, that his touches are few but well-timed, that his vision for teammates is excellent, and that his finishing is actually pretty deadly. Budimir is in his prime and should be starting for Croatia.
Even with a “B” team, we’re not good enough to defeat them with the form we’ve been in for the past year.
I’m Zlatko’s biggest fan, but even I agree that a loss should mean looking on to change in time for the World Cup.
I realize we’re NOWHERE as good as the 2018 team (heck, even the 2022 team), but he hasn’t been able to solve the late defensive lapses with this roster and the constant matches where we’ve been scoreless at halftime.
We used to be the team everyone feared. Now we’ve become a punching bag for everyone, which has never been the case even in our brief “down” years.
Dalic is getting into a really bad habit of announcing his line-up ahead of the matches – it’s really dumb – as gives the opposition the ability to tweak their formation/line-up/tactics – recall before Spain Euro he told Spain TWO WEEKS in advance that our “best” player Gvardiol (“best” = after Modric) is 100% playing LB
Fast forward – before Scotland Friday – he said he’s using a back 4 – now before Portugal he’s saying back 3 with Sosa and Perisic as wing-backs
Is he so primitive not to understand you don’t do your opponent any favours before the match starts ?
Additionally – SN has been 100% correct in reporting the line-up (i.e. 11 out of 11 players) – for the last few matches – this means Dalic (or one of the nose pickers) must be leaking it to SN and other press
Again – all the opponent has to do is read SN the day before/morning of the game – and understand the exact formation and exact personnel who’s playing – and tweak their team/formation/tactics accordingly
Not sure how we get Dalic to sophisticate his approach – it’s not that hard – just keep your mouth shut and stop blabbing
Well, we need to be a goal up coming into the last few minutes for when we concede our now-customary late goal somewhere between 85-95 minutes.
Hrvatska for the W! 3-1.
With Jakic injured there is no choice but to revert to a back three. Gvardiol is a problem in defence and it does not matter whether he plays as a LB or CB he just makes to many mistakes when he plays for the national team and his mistakes often lead to us conceding goals.
Portugal will be missing some players however as is often the case players coming in will try to prove to the coach that they belong and will give it a 100%.
Hopefully no RED cards. We have a poor record against Portugal so I would be happy with a draw.
Match officials all from Italy. I would have preferred officials from Germany or France.
I think EVERYONE would be happy with a draw lmao, that secures a QF spot.
If we make the QF will be playing against one of the group winners Germany, France or Spain. We cannot play against Portugal because they were in our group. All tough but I would choose Germany.
how do QFs work? Is it a two-leg tie or is it one match, where is it played, do you know? UEFA own website didnt have this info lol..
QFs will be in March played over two legs, home and away. Winners of groups will play the second leg at home.
Semi finals to be played in June and I do not know which country will host the SFs and Final ?
Refreshing that someone finally calls out josko and his defensive miscues which are becoming more common place by the week.
fsake get on top.and stay in front and get a new coach this complaining coach is an imposter.
Stick to hockey gaz
This ‘imposter’ led us to 2 World Cup Semifinals and a Nations League final. I think Coach Dalic deserves a little more respect than that. He is in the midst of another generational change. Viva Zlatko!
Must Respect a guy who has put Croatia on the Map.
Even the best of coaches can lose their touch or the locker room.
Mourinho was a top coach, but now floats around in Turkey.
Dalić hasn’t been able to get the best out of Gvardiol, can’t seem to prepare the team for the first half, struggles with his substitutions, and can’t keep his players motivated to play disciplined football for the full 90 minutes (leading to regular breakdowns at the end of every game).
Many problems to fix, with little to no improvement for at least a year now (leading to our worst ever showing in a tournament).
In the 2006 World Cup, we had the same record as these Euros. Has Coach Dalic lost the locker room? It remains to be seen. Luka Modrić seems to be on board with him. Generational changes require a little patience. After the World Cup in 2018, we lost to Spain 6-0. We recovered to go to semifinals in the 2022 World Cup. Coach Dalic deserves to lead us in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
Croatia will lose but Poland will do us a favor. Then we will get spanked in the quarter finals by one of Germany Spain France or Portugal