France has an extra day of rest. That will mean a lot. But Modric & Rakitic are the best duo on any international team. France may win, but Croatia will hang in there til the end.
An extra day of rest and the fact that Croatia has played an extra 90' in the last three games, the equivalent of an extra game. I hope Croatia wins it all but I find it difficult to believe France will lose under these conditions and having already lost the Euro final two years ago.
I just read on an article that Inter and Bayern are the only two teams that had at least one of their players in every WC final since 1982
I've watched all 3 of Croatia's knockout games, and part of the reason they still have energy is because they don't sprint around the pitch for no reason. They let the ball do the running. Not to say that they don't run when they have to ... part of the reason they've gotten this far is the hard work off the ball. But hard work can only get you so far. What takes this team to the next level is the ease with which they possess the ball. There's more than a few times when I've seen all 10 Croatian field players get a touch in one possession. From fullback to fullback, into the midfield, inside, outside, to the striker, back into midfield, back to the fullback and so on and so on ... One player that didn't get mentioned much was Marcelo Brozovic, who I though was dominant in that deep midfield role. I also thought Vrsaljko was massive. England's left flank was abused all night with overloads and intricate one touch passes. And of course the Lovren/Vida combination put on a clinic in both defending and playing the ball out of the back.
I was absolutely wrong on the "spent bullet" theory regarding Croatia. As @Boloni86 noted, Croatia doesn't waste energy. At the end of the match yesterday, Croatia was fitter than England. This isn't a team that will put 5 goals on you, but it is a team built to control the game and slowly strangle your offensive chances. At some point, Croatia assumes a moment of brilliance from one of their players (the first goal) or lack of attention from an opponent (the second goal) will result in a score. The rest of the game, involves maintaining possession, but probing possession -- something Spain failed to do against Russia.
(I'm reminded of that Ray Hudson quote, but will let others reminisce on their own). Soccer: The International Game: One of Croatia's mid-fielders plays for a club in Madrid. The other plays for a club in Barcelona. And France's attacking mid-fielder plays for the other club in Madrid.
Just to fill in the many blanks: France Goalkeepers: Alphone Areola (Paris St Germain), Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur), Steve Mandanda (Olympique de Marseille) Defenders: Lucas Hernandez (Atletico Madrid), Presnel Kimpembe (Paris St Germain), Benjamin Pavard (VfB Stuttgart), Benjamin Mendy (Manchester City), Djibril Sidibe (Monaco), Adil Rami (Olympique de Marseille), Samuel Umtiti (Barcelona), Raphael Varane (Real Madrid) Midfielders: Blaise Matuidi (Juventus), N'Golo Kante (Chelsea), Steven N'Zonzi (Sevilla), Paul Pogba (Manchester United), Corentin Tolisso (Bayern Munich) Forwards: Olivier Giroud (Chelsea), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Kylian Mbappe (Paris St Germain), Thomas Lemar (Monaco), Nabil Fekir (Olympique Lyonnais), Florian Thauvin (Olympique de Marseille), Ousmane Dembele (Barcelona) Croatia Goalkeepers: Danijel Subasic (Monaco), Lovre Kalinic (Gent), Dominik Livakovic (Dinamo). Defenders: Vedran Corluka (Lokomotiv Moscow), Domagoj Vida (Besiktas), Ivan Strinic (Sampdoria), Dejan Lovren (Liverpool), Sime Vrsaljko (Atletico Madrid), Josip Pivaric (Dynamo Kiev), Tin Jedvaj (Bayer Leverkusen), Duje Caleta-Car (Red Bull Salzburg). Midfielders: Luka Modric (Real Madrid), Ivan Rakitic (Barcelona), Mateo Kovacic (Real Madrid), Milan Badelj (Fiorentina), Marcelo Brozovic (Inter), Filip Bradaric (Rijeka). Forwards: Mario Mandzukic (Juventus), Ivan Perisic (Inter), Nikola Kalinic (Milan), Andrej Kramaric (Hoffenheim), Marko Pjaca (Schalke), Ante Rebic (Eintracht). Croatians are more "travelled" but anyone looking to recruit quality at a level suitable for MLS would do well to take a long look at 2nd and 3rd tier players from there
Croatian F Marco Pjaca is back with Juve after they bought his contract out from Shalke. He was with Juve on loan last season
Belgium's score started with a chip pass from the keeper up to Chadli on the sideline at midfield, who then squared the head ball to Lukaku in the middle. Then Lukaku threaded the ball to Chadli ("make a pass, make a run") down the flank who fed it across the goal to Meunier
It would have been more humane to have killed them off earlier with the second goal, but they let England grasp at hope for something that would never be. I'm never sure if it's really a good match when my side wins but I had a big smile on my face at 93 minutes glad I watched. I'm sorry Brits I did enjoy that big big orange balloon you had up yesterday, but between the Elgin Marbles and the world starts and stops with the EPL attitude you got what you deserve
Heartbreaking OG. I know Croatia has faced this the three previous times, but they may not have it in the tank anymore.
Off a blatant Griezmann dive to "earn" the FK. All the false outrage over Neymar destroying the game, but when others do it? Silence
The soccer God's are heartless bastards. Both Croatian goalscorers from the last match give up an OG (manzukic) and a PK (pericic). If the trend continues Pericic owes one more for his left footed beauty to tie it at 1 all. Good as it gets.