Croatia predictions, squad details, manager and tournament odds for the World Cup 2022, brought to you by the Ranks FC team.
Four and a half years is a hell of a long time in football and the Croatia side who are set to attend this World Cup feel a world away from the one who finished as runners up in 2018.
Who is the Croatia manager?
Zlatko Dalic is still in charge, but he’s highly likely to start fewer than half of the players who fell to France in the final last time out. That’s meant he’s had to be adaptable, combining some young talent coming through with the older heads still around—and blending it into a workable situation.
What tactics can we expect from them at the World Cup?
Expect a pretty typical 4-3-3 shape which is built on midfield control. In Marcelo Brozovic, Croatia have one of the better natural No 6s in the game, so they can lean on him to do a lot in the engine room, while Luka Modric remains elite and Mateo Kovacic has stepped into Ivan Rakitic’s shoes following his international retirement.
You can hardly blame Dalic for making this set of players the centrepiece of his team; it’s a midfield trio that can rival almost anyone’s for quality.
Their synergy and familiarity is even more important when you consider Dalic changes the other positions up very frequently. It’s tough to know which striker, right winger, full-back pairing or even centre-back pairing he’s going to choose, so the stable midfield core is key.
Who are the players to watch for Croatia?
Obviously, the crown jewel in there is Modric. He is still a frankly unbelievable footballer even at 37 and runs things in the middle.
He’s always been the type to show up on the big stage and deliver big performances, will likely do so again, and he’s Croatia’s main hope particularly when they come into contact with the biggest sides.
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Who is favourite to be top scorer for Croatia?
He’ll be feeding a rather odd front line, one that hasn’t really felt the same since Mario Mandzukic retired.
Dalic has struggled to get a tune out of any other striker and has left Ante Rebic out completely, meaning Bruno Petkovic and Andrej Kramaric share the centre-forward role.
There is a reliable source of goals to their left, though: Ivan Perisic will return to the wing for Croatia and will probably look their biggest goal threat. He, like Modric, has a good record of turning up in big tournaments.
How did the Croatia qualify for the World Cup?
Despite these concerns at striker—and elsewhere!—Croatia qualified for this tournament pretty easily, topping their group with 23 points. That said, they had to fight until the last match to secure first, beating Russia 1-0 thanks to a late own goal.
Given the number of games they won 1-0 in the run-up to that final game, it’s fair to say the confusion up front for Croatia does impact them in a tangible way.
What are the ambitions for this Croatia team?
Usually, the hope in any tournament is to go one further, one better—but in Croatia’s case that would mean winning it all, and they look miles off that.
Croatia World Cup Odds
On paper they are clearly one of the two strongest teams in Group F with Belgium, so they’ll expect to make it to the knockouts, but they’re destined to meet either Spain or Germany if they reach the Round of 16, so that might be where the journey ends and that’s why their 50/1 odds are as long as they are.
