Croatia’s World Cup hopes were given a slight reality check when the Vatreni were defeated 2-0 by Belgium in their second-to-last friendly game before they travel to North America for this year’s FIFA World Cup.
In this piece, we discuss the meaning of the Belgium match for Croatia’s World Cup hopes and what we can expect from Zlatko Dalić’s men.
Croatia’s World Cup Hopes: A Defeat That Still Brought Many Positives
The defeat to Belgium was not the result the Vatreni were hoping for, but there were still some positives they can take away from the match. The game brought some insights that will be useful for Croatia’s World Cup campaign.
Zlatko Dalić’s side once again tested themselves in the new and somewhat unusual 3-4-2-1 formation that they intend to use at least in their tournament opener against England on June 17. Particularly in the first half, their buildup looked quite good, but it was simply the finishing touches that were lacking.
In the second half, there were no fewer than 10 substitutions in the Croatian side alone, which, needless to say, did not help the flow of play.
The Belgian team overall simply had more luck in the crucial situations, although it can be said that they were slightly the better team on the night.
Another point that is worth making is that despite all the changes, or perhaps because of them, Croatia’s best 11 was never on the field together.
For example, starting centre forward Petar Musa was largely not getting the required service into the box. The attacking play worked better when Ante Budimir replaced him, as the latter has far more experience with the team, and Musa is unlikely to be the starting number nine on Croatia’s World Cup team, certainly against England.
It was also positive that Luka Vušković and Joško Gvardiol, two of the team’s potential starting centre-backs in the back-three system, got some much-needed playing time together under their belts. Unfortunately, the third in that likely trio, Duje Ćaleta-Car, was recovering from a knock and didn’t feature in the match.
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Croatia’s World Cup Hopes: The Debate Surrounding International Friendlies
That brings us to our next point, because while teams have to try things out in a competitive setting before a big tournament like the World Cup, it is not always that useful.
First of all, players can get hurt and miss the tournament altogether. That happens more and more frequently, especially with the congested match calendar.
Furthermore, when coaches make as many changes to their side as Dalić did on Tuesday, it limits how much each player can do, thus kind of defeating the purpose of a match like that.
Of course, it was good to see how the new formation works in a competitive setting, and it helped to see what things still need to be worked on, but when you change 10 players during the game, you take away from the flow of play, and you make the test less realistic.
Croatia’s World Cup Hopes: Valuable Minutes Gained
Ultimately, these friendlies tell us very little about how Croatia’s World Cup will go.
The team will have another friendly against Slovenia on Sunday, before departing for North America. That is likely meant to be a confidence booster for them, without meaning any disrespect to that opponent.
As always, it will be key for Croatia to get through the group stage and then to use their team spirit and winning mentality to once again go as far as possible.
Main Photo
Credit: IMAGO / HANZA MEDIA
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