Croatia v. Brazil Doha (Education City Stadium) Dec 9, 2022 6 pm - Qatar 3 pm - London (GMT) 10 am - New York City
Honest q: will Croatia even have the legs? They've looked gassed since the 2nd half against Belgium....
I really hope Croatia can win this one. They definitely have the quality and just need to be at their BEST!
These guys love the extra time grind... no team has played more extra time in the past two tournaments lol. Get ur money's worth they are almost guaranteeing 120 minutes... pks in 3 out of the 5 last ko games. They are pk masters now... Germany has passed the torch
They can win, of course. While they did look tired, they managed to stay alive in the competition, and they will have the same amount of time to rest as Brazil will. If they score early, Brazil may be in trouble.
I was surprised to see us so confident going to pks, in 2018 we had 2 but without any control it was close against Denmark and close against Russia.This time we really bossed it, Livakovic loves these. It's good to know also that we can finish a match with half of the team subbed. I think we will be ready for the challenge. We will try to take Brazil where Serbia for an half Time and Switzerland for 75 minutes took them. We won't play the match South Korea gave them.
Only a 1st tier UEFA side can stand up against Brazil and beat them. I don't count Croatia among them.
I think the psychological aspect of the game is underrated here. Croatia doesn't like the pressure to have something to lose, against Marocco Canada, Belgium at 3 points and Japan in round 16 we were the team that had the pressure to lose. Now we will have our LB back and the position we like to have. We will close the spaces as long as possible and trust that Lukita Brozo or Kovacic gives "the Key pass" that changes the game. This match will be way Closer than everybody thinks.
This match can go one of two ways, either it will be a very even and tough duel that Brazil will win in the end, probably with some wind at the back from the referee, or Brazil scores early and Croatia falls apart and ends up worse than Korea did. The later option is much more likely. There are too many flaws in Croatian team in this world cup. Despite being unrightfully granted player of the match 2 times, Modric is a shadow of his Real Madrid form, he's just not that decisive factor for Croatia that he used to be. Brozo has probably been the worst in the team, for 4 matches consecutively. No lungs or legs to compete at that pace and too much mistakes on passes. But the biggest chance for Brazil is Juranovic. Just not the NT level player, too scared and mistake prone in defense, and just slightly better in offence (but also useless because of non-existing sterile Croatian attack).
The Croatia from 2018 would have won this. For the current one it will be a tall order. Not impossible obviously, but they'll need to be perfect.
You earlier listed Spain as such a team yet Spain couldn't beat Morocco. It must be fun to make such sweeping statements by pointing to several teams of a continental confederation. That way, it reduces the odds of your prophecies ever failing.
Croatia have been really impressive in the middle of the park, they just need to continue to keep Brazil at arms length and try to produce something magical in the last third.