Rakitic joins Modric in Croatia sickbay

Author: app/afp

BARCELONA: Croatia’s midfield general Ivan Rakitic has pulled out of World Cup qualifiers against Kosovo and Finland because of a painful achilles tendon, his club Barcelona said on Tuesday.

The loss is a major headache for Croatia coach Ante Cacic because his other top midfielder, Real Madrid’s Luka Modric, has already been ruled out of the games on Thursday and Sunday by a knee injury. All six teams in Group I have a single point from matchday one of the European qualifiers in a tough-looking pool which also includes Iceland, Turkey and Ukraine.

Croatia were one of the more exciting teams at Euro 2016 where they ran Spain ragged in a 2-1 group phase win before a wily Portugal edged the Croats 1-0 in extra-time of the quarter-finals.

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