Zlatko Dalić’s men take on three-time European champions Spain to kick off their Euro campaign in Berlin on Saturday June 15th at 12pm EST. The Vatreni will look to avenge their Nations League Final loss and start the tournament off with three points in the bag.
Much discussion is taking place on how Croatia will line up, especially in the attacking department as all three positions are currently debatable. Dalić will definitely roll out a 4-3-3 formation with the midfield and defence being rather settled. Here is what I predict Croatia’s eleven to be come kick-off time:
Defence:
Dalić has already confirmed before the Euro preparations even began that star defender Joško Gvardiol would be starting at left-back. The most expensive defender of all time has cemented himself as one of the world’s best defenders at the age of 22 and provides a crucial attacking threat as well as world-class defence. Josip Stanišić will start as he was seen most regularly in the two friendly matches leading up to the tournament and is coming off a successful season with German champions Bayer Leverkusen. The centre-back duo will consist of Josip Šutalo with either Sassuolo’s Martin Erlić or Lecce’s Marin Pongračić. In interviews, Šutalo has spoken of his good chemistry with Pongračić and seeing them together for the entirety of the Portugal game further solidifies them to most likely be our starting pair in the back. Erlić was very impressive in the Nations League alongside Šutalo however Dalić must have reason to not be starting him. Pongračić seems more comfortable on the ball and good enough all around to provide a solid display, but I do worry since we have not seen much of him.
Midfield:
Nothing to say here. MKB will get it done. Baturina and Sučić have both proved themselves uber-talented youngsters and having them develop under such a legendary midfield will only be good for them. However, they will likely see very limited minutes.
Attack:
Expect to see the starting three from the Portugal game line up against Spain. Budimir and Petković both bring polar opposite skill sets and I expect to see them both utilized in tandem throughout this tournament. Budimir, although not the quickest, presses hard and provides an aerial threat. He is in good finishing form and creates space for inverted wingers Kramarić and Majer to move inside. Petković plays with his back to goal and is excellent in link-up play. His dribbling can be a threat and he has a clutch gene that may come in handy when he is subbed in with 30 minutes left to play. Kramarić is rather unproven on the left but expect a better performance than the one he showed against Portugal. He has been scoring well for Croatia lately and he is coming off 21 goal contributions in 30 Bundesliga matches this season. Ivan Perišić will be Croatia’s biggest X factor coming off the bench and I think his 30 minutes off the bench can be truly game changing. He will have fresh legs every match and make more of a difference than if he tires himself out (and potentially injures himself) trying to play 90 every game. Lovro Majer has been in hot form for Croatia and provides an attacking threat from the right side. Marco and Mario Pašalić, Pjaca, Ivanušec and Vlašić can all create a spark off the bench late in the match.
Spain expected line-up:
Spain’s biggest threats are their world-class midfield and pacey wingers. Rodri and Pedri are arguably top 5 midfielders in the world on their day and Fabian Ruiz is rather serviceable. Nico Williams will provide similar pace to Portugal’s Rafael Leao on Stanišić’s side and could thus cause some problems. Lamine Yamal has the potential to become a generational footballer as he has already cracked Barcelona and Spain’s starting eleven at the age of 16, however, he is up against our best defender in Gvardiol. The young winger’s inexperience could benefit us but his raw talent cannot go unnoticed, expect Gvardiol to have his hands full. Grimaldo and Carvajal are both very talented, but Spain’s center-back pairing is not as strong as it’s been in past tournaments.
Croatia must get a result, whether that be a win or a draw, in their opening match of the 2024 European Championships. I expect a gritty, defensive match in which both sides will be unwilling to open themselves up too much. What is your prediction for the match? What must Zlatko Dalić and his men do to get a result against the Spaniards in Berlin?
Test
Good point.
What the doctor ordered is a Budimir sandwich between two slices of Pasalic bread , washed down with a glass of Smooth Sucic wine.
The left forward I wanted is not even on the team, so it’s hard for me to even speak. Orsic – Budimir – Marko P, at some point in the game, even after 55 min. would have been a brilliant front line to create offense activity.
That’s alright, I would have made him split his paycheck with me, now he can keep it and all the resultant glory if he is right.
In another life.
If everyone is fit ? it should be the same starting lineup as against Portugal. The experience is on our side so I’m expecting at least a draw. The match officials are all from England with Michael Oliver in the middle. Normally I do not like English refs officiating our matches, however Oliver was in charge last year at the WC when we beat Brazil on spot kicks, and I thought that he was very good.
Nico Williams worries me after what we saw from leao vs stanisic. Also, from what we’ve seen in the past, pongracic and sutalo don’t have good defensive positioning/awareness, kinda sketch having them play together.
At first i thought this game would be a boring 0-0 draw like against morocco. But i guess after spain saw our inexperienced defenders they’re loading up the attack now. Will be interesting to see how our defense copes. This match will set the tone for the rest of the tournament. Still think spain are overrated and we’ll comfortably win.
If ur worried about Nico Williams vs. Stanisic
U should REALLY be worried about 2 v 1 or 3 v 1 overloads down our right-hand side (if Gvardiol plays LB for us)
It’s such an obvious game-plan – too obvious (I’m sure Dalic has seen Man C vs. RM 2nd half of the first match….)
Can we stop talking about “how old” our team is plz
Lots of veterans still playing and starting for their countries as e.g.
Pepe (41)
Ronaldo (39)
Navas (38)
Vertonghen (37)
Giroud (37)
What do they all have in common ?
Football over everything else
Nutrition
Training
Sleep
“Luck” over their careers v-a-v injuries
etc
The “old” thing has little context anyway.
First off, we’re talking like very little difference between these teams abywa.
Scotland is the oldest squad at 28.3 years of age.
Croatia is sixth oldest, at 27.7 years.
France has one of the youngest teams at 26.5 years of age.
The thing is, our average age was about the same in the past few tournaments too. So, it’s not like we’re getting older and we’re going to hit a wall. We always average something like 27-28 years of age.
France has a lot of African guys who peak early, so they’ll always call up these 25 year olds.
Croats seem to age better, and our guys tend to peak in their late 20s. So this age thing is essentially a constant, so our collective age doesn’t matter.