Croatia Prepared for World Cup Battles

Croatia Prepared for World Cup Battles

📅25 May 2014, 12:05

Croatia’s biggest success at the World Cup was a third place finish in 1998. The team failed to qualify for 2010’s competition and in 2002 and 2006 failed to make it past the group stage. However, the team has some world class players and is capable of making some kind of impact on this year’s competition.

Style

The team has only just adopted a new manager Niko Kovac and it is hard to know what changes he will make. However, until now the team has been extremely flexible in its formation while usually keeping a back four. This allows for its star players to move around as necessary.

Strengths

During qualifying Croatia led the field in terms of goals scored from inside the 6 yard box, 43% of all the team’s goals came from this area. Additionally, the team was excellent at setting up chances from the wings with nearly two thirds of their goals being set up from a wide position.

The flexibility of the trio of Modric, Rakitic and Kovacic is also a huge strength which gives the team a real tactical edge.

Weaknesses

The team suffers from a lack of payers, there is no obvious choice for left-back and there are no obvious wingers either. There is also a lack of depth running through the side. Without the aforementioned trio, the team is really very weak.

Furthermore, the team averaged just 1.17 goals per match during qualifying, a figure which needs to be improved upon for any real success in the competition.

World Cup Group Stage