Joined
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4,018 Posts


June 26th, 2018 - 20:00 CET (14:00 EDT)
Rostov Arena, Rostov-on-Don (Capacity 43,472)



Squad:
Betting odds (from Oddschecker.com):

Statistical odds (from FiveThirtyEight.com):

Apparently got hurt when he made that nice dribble around the Argentine defender before getting hacked down. Doctors say he will be fine but Rebic says he can't put weight on his leg right now. Hopefully he will be ok for the round of 16 game.Rebic is injured it seems...
I agree Ero, the SPINE of the team must stay intact, protect the players on cards, but by changing the whole team we are making a mistake of losing that battling momentum until the next round match, the players have to much time to relax, they get out of combat mode and therefore are not able to reach 100% competitiveness when they really need it, the next round of 16 against TEAMS THAT MIGHT HAVE FOUGHT FOR SURVIVAL FOR EVERY GAME UP TO THAT POINT (Portugal 2016?!) :| Why do this again when it clearly did not work at the Euro's? FFS. BY the way, ICELAND got still something to play for, its disrespectful not to acknowledge that - I really don't like the mentality - "dobili smo 2 utakmice - najbolji smo ... lako cemo" - that kind of thinking and Balkan mentality got us NOWHERE in the PAST, Germany, ITaly BRazil et.c simply don't do this.I'd rather keep the skeleton of the team intact, rest the carded players and make timely subs.
We've played B squads before when qualified, against Spain and Poland at Euros winning both, but we went on to lose our next A squad games. The reserve squad his can break down the momentum created from the first two games, I have a hunch Dalić will not make many changes, especially in defense.
But then again, when you have a deep bench of the quality of Croatia...tough decisions to be made.
An Iceland win potentially takes them through to the next round as long as they have a better goal difference than the other second best team who could be Nigeria or Argentina, these guys got EVERYTHING TO PLAY FOR ... nema labavo DZ86:wink2:A no stress game. Love it.
I would like to see a few changes, we have the quality to beat Iceland with any team. I'm not sure if Iceland have a chance to come second but if they do they'll probably go all out, and I wouldn't want to risk an injury to our starters.
:devil2:4:0 Kramarić sva četiri
Sulla ...why would we run out of steam later, aren't the other teams playing the same amount of games and get the same amount of rest? We have used this tactic and I really think it didn't help us in the game v Portugal, we lacked edge in that game, with that edge Portugal were there for the taking!I hear you SLF but we have to plan for getting to the last four. Momentum is important but what’s the point if you run out of steam later in the tournament? And you also have to appreciate that the yellows don’t get wiped till the semi’s.
With good management, I think we can get maximum benefit from the opportunity that we’ve earned.