Daily Times

Croatia have already qualified for the knockout stages of the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia, after 2 convincing victories against Nigeria and Argentina. With a selection of elite central midfielders, and versatile options elsewhere, one believes that Croatia are indeed the dark horses of the mega event. In centre midfield, Croatia have options such as Marceloa Brozovic, Luka Modri?, Mateoa Kova?i? and Ivan Rakiti?. Brozovic, who has been a phenomenal player for Inter Milan this season, made 31 appearances in the Serie A. He makes two key passes a game, which has contributed to nine goals he assisted in the league, while he also scored four goals himself. Modri?, Real Madrid’s starting centre midfielder, and Croatia’s captain, has been in fine form lately netting against both Argentina and Nigeria. This year in the La Liga, Modri? played 26 games, in which he scored one goal, and assisted six times. Modri? averaged 1.5 shots per game, while making 1.5 key passes per game. Modri?’s teammate at Real Madrid, Kova?i? impressed for both club and country this season. Having made 21 appearances for his club in the La Liga, Kova?i? accumulated a 93.7 percent pass success rate, in addition to making 37.7 passes per game on average. The last of Croatia’s crucial centre midfielders, Rakiti?, plays for Barcelona. Perhaps Croatia’s best player, Rakiti? averaged two key passes a game. Furthermore, Rakiti? made 71.3 passes on average every game, which consisted of 4.1 long balls, 0.4 crosses and 0.2 through balls. Rakiti? is also a very accurate distributer of the football, which is best represented by his 90.3 percent pass success rate in the La Liga this season. Overall, with the statistical evidence mentioned above, Croatia’s midfield is one that could threaten even the best of teams.

Croatia’s defence and goalkeeping positions have also been doing well, spearheaded by Danijel Subaši? in goal, and Dejan Lovren in defence. Subaši?, who plays club football for AS Monaco, has played 236 games from 2013 to date, in which he amassed 95 clean sheets, and therefore no goals conceded in 40 percent of his matches during this period. In comparison, David De Gea, regarded as the best goalkeeper in the world, has had a clean sheet in 38 percent of his matches, in the same period. Lovren, who plays for English club Liverpool F.C, while often losing concentration, is a great player on his day. This season in the Premier League, Lovren has averaged 0.9 tackles a game, 1.5 blocks on average and five clearances, which are all pretty decent stats. Additionally, Croatia’s defense is further strengthened by Atletico Madrid’s fullback Šime Vrsaljko. He was a key contributor to his club’s second place finish, an impressive 3 points ahead of Real Madrid. This season in the La Liga, Vrsaljko participated in 21 games, which consisted of 19 starts, and two appearances coming off the bench. In these games, Vrsaljko made 2.3 tackles a game, and also averaged 1.7 interceptions. Moreover, he also had 2.6 clearances and 0.5 blocks, which are both great statistics for a fullback.

Lastly, Croatia’s attack is one that consists of players which compliment one another like bread and butter. Players like Mario Mandžuki?, Ivan Periši?, Andrej Kramari? and Ante Rebi? are all respectable forwards who represent the Vatreni (Croatia). Rebi? and Periši? are both incredibly capable specialist crossers, while Mandžuki? and Kramari? are both skillful strikers with different playing styles. With such a well rounded team, compiled with players playing for Europe’s top clubs, it’s hard to doubt that Croatia will do well this World Cup.

Published in Daily Times, June 27^th 2018.