September 9th 2019 - 20:00 AST / Local Time (16:00 CET, 12:00 EDT)
Bakcell Arena, Baku (Capacity 11,000)
UEFA Euro 2020 Qualifying continues when the Vatreni visit Azerbaijan on Matchday 5. Croatia is in 2nd place in the group due to head to head tie breaker with Hungary. Croatia has a decent chance to wind up top of the group after this match as Hungary faces a tougher opponent in Slovakia (who Croatia just pummeled 0-4 in Slovakia on Matchday 4).
- Croatia won the first away game for any team in the group (excluding Azerbaijan matches)
- Croatia have broken their conceding streak after 7 consecutive matches
- Croatia continue their scoring streak which now stands at 8 consecutive matches
- Azerbaijan yet to win in three games v Croatia: D1 L2
- Lost 2-1 in Zagreb in the sides' March encounter
- Only past match in Baku ended 0-0, in September 2015
- Home coach Jurčević is a 19-times capped ex-Croatia player
- 10 October: Slovakia v Wales, Croatia v Hungary
Head to Head stats from Soccerway.com:
Betting odds:
The game WILL be broadcast on ESPN3 (online streaming) here in USA
Dare I say, anything less than 3 is an absolute disaster...but we remember how the game went last time...we need a couple quick goals to kill the game and relax.
They also almost stole points in Wales today as well...can be a frustrating team to play against as they'll bunker it up.
Love today's game....our young guns are fearless....so lets keep this thing rolling!
What can play in our favor is that they are harder to deal with when you play them first like Wales tonight than when they got already one game in legs..they might be less fresh on Monday.
We got to finish the job. No matter how, get this win and prepare the revenge against Hungary.
What can play in our favor is that they are harder to deal with when you play them first like Wales tonight than when they got already one game in legs..they might be less fresh on Monday.
We got to finish the job. No matter how, get this win and prepare the revenge against Hungary.
The current format for qualifying makes it so that you can afford to drop points like these from time to time depending on other results. But honestly I don't think you should have any reasons to fear teams like Hungary and Slovakia especially at home, Wales away seems like the potentially tricky feature here.
Dalic has no confidence of anybody on the bench, knew it was going to be a tougher match because of the travel and defensive nature but they screwed themselves not finishing their chances. Second half they never looked like scoring and if the game continued for 5-10 minutes Azerbaijan was more likely to score
A lot of pressure now on that game against Hungary
Not to absolve the players at all but this one is on Dalić...it was obvious from mid-way in the first half that this was going to be one of those games, and then 15 minutes into the second when things were getting worse he still didn't change a thing...apart from the opening 10-15 such a lacklustre, uninspired performance...
I don't think the Azeris are aware of what an offside position is. It was cringeworthy seeing them complain. Anyway, well played game by the Azeris. They also looked like the more dangerous side in the second half.
Hum against Slovakia we got the head to head in our favor.
If Slovakia doesn't lose tonight then Hungary would still have to go away in both Wales and Croatia among their last 3 remaining games.
Well it's been in effect for like fourteen years for The People's Republic of Hajduk :righton:
All the while our boys spanked the creme of world football time and again, then promptly shook the world to it's core while becoming adored by neutral fans globally, in black shirts too, mind you. :shades:
Slovakia and Hungary already won there and pretty easily based on the scores. Only Wales still go there. They actually have scored in every game (which is why I was confident one goal would not be enough) but other than today concede a lot