Football World Cup 2018 / Croatia

Football World Cup 2018 : Croatia
Trainer	Zlatko Dalić
captain	Luka Modrić
Qualified as	Winner of the European playoff against Greece
World rankings before the tournament	20th
Tournament result	Vice world champion
Games won	4th
Games tie	2
Games lost	1
Gates	14: 9

This article covers the Croatian national football team at the 2018 World Cup . Croatia took part in the finals for the fifth time. Since the Croatians have been participating as their own association, they have been able to qualify for 5 out of 6 world championships. Only in 2010 did they not play in the World Cup. With second place they achieved their best placement at a major football tournament, which Croatian players had previously only achieved with the Yugoslav team at the European Football Championships in 1960 and 1968 .

The Croatian national team before the final against France in Moscow

qualification

The team qualified for the World Cup in Russia through the qualifying matches of the European football association UEFA .

Games

Mario Mandžukić, Croatia's top scorer in qualifying

Croatia met in Group I , the only group with four participants in the Euro 2016, against Iceland , Ukraine , Euro preliminary round opponents Turkey , Finland and Kosovo , which was subsequently assigned to the group after joining FIFA. In the ten encounters that resulted, the Croatian team had six wins. They drew twice and lost two games. The Croatians started the qualification under Ante Čačić , who took over the team in 2015, and were neck and neck with Iceland for a long time, but Ukraine and Turkey also had a chance of winning the group before the last two games or at least second place. The decisive factor was the win of the Icelanders in Turkey while the Croatians lost points against Finland. Then Čačić was dismissed and Zlatko Dalić new national coach. The Croatians then won the last group game against Ukraine, but since the Icelanders won against bottom group Kosovo on the last day of the match, the Croatians only got second place and the way to the playoffs of the group runners-up. Here they met Greece and after a 4-1 home win, a goalless draw in Piraeus was enough to book the World Cup ticket.

A total of 26 players were used, 19 of whom were already in the EM squad . Only Domagoj Vida was used in all twelve games. Marcelo Brozović , Andrej Kramarić , Mario Mandžukić and Ivan Perišić had eleven missions , who had to take a break after the red card in the first game against Iceland in the following game. Most often between the posts was Danijel Subašić , who, like captain Luka Modrić and Šime Vrsaljko, played in ten games. Modrić had received the post of captain after the resignation of Darijo Srna , who had ended his national team career after the EM. Only three players had only one appearance, including Marko Pjaca , who had played three more games at the European Championship, and Nikola Vlašić , who only had a seven-minute short appearance in the first playoff game. He was next to Ante Rebić , the only player who was only used by the new national coach Dalić in the qualification. Rebić had to wait 29 months for this deployment, as he was never used by Čačić. He had played his last game under Niko Kovač . Luka Modrić made his 100th international match in a 1-1 draw against Finland on October 6, 2017.

The top scorer was Mario Mandžukić with five goals, who had scored three of them as a flawless hat trick in the 6-0 win against Kosovo. A total of nine Croatians met. The first international goal was played by Matej Mitrović during qualification in a 6-0 win against Kosovo.

date	Venue	host		guest	Result	Goal scorers for Croatia
09/05/2016	Zagreb	Croatia	-	Turkey	1: 1 (1: 1)	Ivan Rakitić (44th / penalty)
10/06/2016	Shkodra	Kosovo	-	Croatia	0: 6 (0: 3)	Mario Mandžukić (6th, 24th, 35th), Matej Mitrović (68th), Ivan Perišić (83rd), Nikola Kalinić (90th + 2)
10/09/2016	Tampere	Finland	-	Croatia	0: 1 (0: 1)	Mario Mandžukić (18th)
11/12/2016	Zagreb	Croatia	-	Iceland	2: 0 (1: 0)	Marcelo Brozović (15th, 90th + 1)
March 24, 2017	Zagreb	Croatia	-	Ukraine	1: 0 (1: 0)	Nikola Kalinić (38th)
06/11/2017	Reykjavík	Iceland	-	Croatia	1: 0 (0: 0)
03.09.2017 1	Zagreb	Croatia	-	Kosovo	1: 0 (0: 0)	Domagoj Vida (74.)
05.09.2017	Eskişehir	Turkey	-	Croatia	1: 0 (0: 0)
06.10.2017	Rijeka	Croatia	-	Finland	1: 1 (0: 0)	Mario Mandžukić (57.)
09.10.2017	Kiev	Ukraine	-	Croatia	0: 2 (0: 0)	Andrej Kramarić (62nd, 70th)

¹The game between Croatia and Kosovo on September 2, 2017 was canceled after 27 minutes of play due to heavy rain. It was then continued on September 3rd.

Final table of the qualifying round

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Iceland	10	7th	1	2	016: 700	+9	22nd
2.	Croatia	10	6th	2	2	015: 400	+11	20th
3.	Ukraine	10	5	2	3	013: 900	+4	17th
4th	Turkey	10	4th	3	3	014:130	+1	15th
5.	Finland	10	2	3	5	009:130	−4	09
6th	Kosovo	10	0	1	9	003:240	−21	01

Playoff games

date	Venue	host		guest	Result	Goal scorers for Croatia
11/09/2017	Zagreb	Croatia	-	Greece	4: 1 (3: 1)	Luka Modrić (13th / penalty), Nikola Kalinić (19th), Ivan Perišić (33rd), Andrej Kramarić (49th)
11/12/2017	Piraeus	Greece	-	Croatia	0-0

preparation

Games

date	Result	opponent	venue	Croatian goal scorers
March 24, 2018	0: 2	Peru	Miami Gardens ( USA )
March 27, 2018	1-0	Mexico	Arlington ( USA )	Ivan Rakitić (62 / penalty)
3rd June 2018	0: 2	Brazil	Liverpool ( GBR )
June 8, 2018	2: 1	Senegal	Osijek	Ivan Perišić (63.), Andrej Kramarić (78.)

Quarter

Team Quarter was the "Woodland Rhapsody Resort" ( Russian Отель Лесная Рапсодия , "Hotel Waldrhapsodie") in Iljitschowo ( Rajon Vyborg , Leningrad Oblast ) on the outskirts of St. Petersburg , where the team at the stadium "Roschtschino Arena" ( Russian Рощино Арена ) the neighboring village Roschtschino could train.

Squad

On May 14, 2018, a preliminary roster with 32 players was named. For this were Borna Barišić , Duje Čop , Karlo Letica (gate), Matej Mitrovic , Zoran Nizić , Mario Pašalić , Marko Rog , Ivan Santini and Borna Sosa deleted.

In the closing stages of the first group game, Nikola Kalinić was supposed to be substituted on, but he refused with reference to back pain. Since the same thing happened in the friendly against Brazil, the coach sent him home. A subsequent nomination of another player was not possible.

position	No.	Surname	birth date	International matches	Länderspiel- gates	society	debut	Last use						World Cup participation	World Cup games (before 2018)	World Cup goals (before 2018)
goal	12	Lovre Kalinić	04/03/1990	11	0	KAA Gent	2014	06/08/2018	1
	23	Danijel Subašić	10/27/1984	38	0	AS Monaco	2009	06/08/2018	6th					2014	0	0
	01	Dominik Livaković	01/09/1995	1	0	Dinamo Zagreb M.	2017	11/01/2017
Defense	15th	Duje Ćaleta-Car	09/17/1996	1	0	FC Red Bull Salzburg M.	2018	06/03/2018	1
	05	Vedran Ćorluka	02/05/1986	97	4th	Locomotive Moscow M	2006	06/08/2018	4th					2014	3	0
	13	Tin Jedvaj	11/28/1995	12	0	Bayer 04 Leverkusen	2014	06/08/2018	1		1
	06th	Dejan Lovren	07/05/1989	39	2	Liverpool FC	2009	06/08/2018	7th		1			2014	3	0
	22nd	Josip Pivarić	01/30/1989	18th	0	Dynamo Kiev	2013	03/27/2018	4th		1
	03	Ivan Strinić	07/17/1987	40	0	Sampdoria Genoa	2010	06/08/2018	6th		1
	21st	Domagoj Vida	04/29/1989	55	2	Beşiktaş Istanbul	2010	06/08/2018	6th	1	1			2014	0	0
	02	Šime Vrsaljko	01/10/1992	31	0	Atlético Madrid E.	2011	06/03/2018	6th		2			2014	2	0
midfield	19th	Milan Badelj	02/25/1989	38	1	AC Florence	2010	06/08/2018	3	1				2014	0	0
	14th	Filip Bradarić	01/11/1992	3	0	HNK Rijeka	2016	06/03/2018	1
	11	Marcelo Brozović	11/16/1992	35	6th	Inter Milan	2014	06/08/2018	6th		1			2014	1	0
	08th	Mateo Kovačić	05/06/1994	41	1	Real Madrid C	2013	06/08/2018	5					2014	3	0
	10	Luka Modrić	09.09.1985	106	12	Real Madrid C	2006	06/08/2018	7th	2				2006, 2014	5	0
	07th	Ivan Rakitić	03/10/1988	92	14th	FC Barcelona D.	2007	06/08/2018	7th	1	1			2014	3	0
Storm	16	Nikola Kalinić	05/01/1988	42	15th	AC Milan	2008	06/08/2018
	09	Andrej Kramarić	06/19/1991	31	9	TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	2014	06/08/2018	7th	1
	17th	Mario Mandžukić	05/21/1986	83	30th	Juventus Turin D.	2007	06/08/2018	6th	3	2			2014	2	2
	04th	Ivan Perišić	02/02/1989	66	18th	Inter Milan	2011	06/08/2018	7th	3				2014	3	2
	20th	Marko Pjaca	05/06/1995	16	1	FC Schalke 04	2014	06/03/2018	4th		1
	18th	Ante Rebić	09/21/1993	16	1	Eintracht Frankfurt P.	2013	06/08/2018	6th	1	2			2014	3	0
Coaching staff	Trainer	Zlatko Dalić	10/26/1966				2017
	Trainer assistant	Ivica Olić	09/14/1979	104	20th		2017							2002, 2006, 2014	8th	2
	Trainer assistant	Dražen Ladic	01/01/1963	59, 2	0		2018							1998	7th	0
	Goalkeeping coach	Marjan Mrmić	05/06/1963	14th	0		2015
↑ Numbers according to the official squad list ↑ a b As of June 8, 2018 after the game against Senegal ↑ D = champions and cup winners in the World Cup year, M = champions in the World Cup year, P = cup winners in the World Cup year, C = winners of the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League, E = 2017/18 UEFA Europa League winners ↑ a b c d e f g h i As a player ↑ For Yugoslavia

Finals

The Croatian national team after the lost final, together with the Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović as well as the President of the Croatian Football Association Davor Šuker .

Group draw

For the draw of the qualifying groups on December 1st, Croatia was assigned to Pot 2 and in Group D they played runners-up Argentina , qualifying opponents Iceland and Nigeria . Croatia had previously played six times against Iceland, two games each in the qualifications for the 2006, 2014 and 2018 World Cups. The last game was lost, before that four games were won and one ended in a draw. Croatia played against Nigeria for the first time at this World Cup. The Croatians met Argentina when they first played in the World Cup in 1998 and lost 1-0. While Argentina was eliminated in the quarter-finals, Croatia finished third. In addition, there was one win, one draw and one defeat in friendly matches.

Group stage / group D matches

→ Main article : Football World Cup 2018 / Group D

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Croatia	3	3	0	0	007: 100	+6	09
2.	Argentina	3	1	1	1	003: 500	−2	04th
3.	Nigeria	3	1	0	2	003: 400	−1	03
4th	Iceland	3	0	1	2	002: 500	−3	01

Saturday, June 16, 2018, 9:00 p.m. (CEST) in Kaliningrad
Croatia	-	Nigeria	2: 0 (1: 0)	32 ′ Etebo , 71 ′ / penalty Modrić
Thursday, June 21, 2018, 9:00 p.m. (8:00 p.m. CEST) in Nizhny Novgorod
Argentina	-	Croatia	0: 3 (0: 0)	53 ′ Rebić , 80 ′ Modrić, 90 + 1 ′ Rakitić
Tue., June 26, 2018, 9:00 p.m. (8:00 p.m. CEST) in Rostov-on-Don
Iceland	-	Croatia	1: 2 (0: 0)	53 ′ Badelj 90 ′ Perišić

Kaliningrad (VR) Rostov-on-Don (VR) Nizhny Novgorod (VR + AF) Ilyichovo Sochi (VF) Moscow (HF + F)

Venues and quarters (blue / italic) of the Croatians

After two wins in the first two games, Croatia were already in the round of 16. The group win was achieved by defeating Iceland in the last game.

Games of the knockout round

Sun., July 1, 2018, 9:00 p.m. (8:00 p.m. CEST) in Nizhny Novgorod ( Nizhny Novgorod Stadium )
Croatia	-	Denmark	1: 1 n.V. (1: 1, 1: 1), 3: 2 i. E.	4 ′ Mandžukić
Sun., July 7, 2018, 9:00 p.m. (8:00 p.m. CEST) in Sochi ( Sochi Olympic Stadium )
Russia	-	Croatia	2: 2 n.V. (1: 1, 1: 1), 3: 4 i. E.	39 ′ Kramarić , 101 ′ Vida
Wed., July 11, 2018, 9:00 p.m. (8:00 p.m. CEST) in Moscow ( Luschniki Olympic Stadium )
Croatia	-	England	2: 1 n.V. (1: 1, 0: 1)	68 ′ Perišić, 109 ′ Mandžukić
Sun., July 15, 2018, 6:00 p.m. (5:00 p.m. CEST) in Moscow ( Luschniki Olympic Stadium )
France	-	Croatia	4: 2 (2: 1)	18 ′ Mandžukić, 28 ′ Perišić, 69 ′ Mandžukić

Awards

Luka Modrić was awarded the Golden Ball as the best player in the World Cup.

particularities

• Vedran Ćorluka came on as a substitute for his 100th international match in the second minute of added time in the game against Argentina.
• Mario Mandžukić is the first player to score an own goal in a World Cup final.

References and footnotes

1. ↑ Both won on penalties
2. ↑ tagblatt.ch: Croatia dismisses national coach Cacic ( Memento from October 7, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
3. ^ All of Matej Mitrovic's international matches
4. ↑ Sport1: Rain: Game abandoned in Zagreb. In: sport1.de. Sport1 , September 2, 2017, accessed September 2, 2017 . 
5. ↑ fifa.com: 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia - Team Base Camps
6. ↑ hns-cff.hr: Preliminary World Cup squad
7. ↑ This Croat is the biggest loser in the World Cup