[Nepoznat]

vs.

July 7th, 2018 - 20:00 CET (14:00 EDT)

Fisht Olympic Stadium, Sochi (Capacity 44,287)

​

Squad:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/998524025025499136

Head to Head comparison:

Betting odds from OddsChecker.com:

Odds from FiveThirtyEight.com has Croatia advancing to Semis at 61%:

 

[pivorakija]

LET'S DO THIS!!!!!!

 

[10Boban10]

Russia will have a lot of material to go on by watching Denmark's second half performance BUT I think we will give them a harder time than Spain. The commentators picked up on it as well whenever Spain get the ball into wide areas they have no wide players who like to attack defenders and instead just play it back into the middle making it easy for Russia to defend. Can't remember who they played last year or maybe it was this year but they got absolutely shredded on the wings. I would keep the same starting XI and tell Perisic and Rebic to just be fearless out wide. Rebic doesn't need to be told actually he's been doing a fantastic job but I feel Perisic has been a little hesitant. **** that put the Russians on their asses.

2-0 Hrvatska

 

[Sulla]

Perisic has definitely been hesitant when found in a 1-on-1 situation, despite that being his bread and butter. Makes me wonder if he’s not carrying some sort of injury?

 

[Ante]

5 days away, which will be a good rest for the boys. And also good for my nerves...yesterday I aged at least 5 years but it was worth it in the end )

This is the next game of this generation's lives...the tears of joy from Lovren and Vrsaljko after the game said it all how bad they all want keep this dream alive.

The crowd will be basically all rusky, and loud. Luka and Rakitic will need to settle things down, which no doubt they will do. And guys like Mandzo thrive under this type of atmosphere...


We'll be ready.

#weareCroatia! roud:

 

[dinamozagreb86]

I feel more confident playing Russia than Denmark that's for sure. We struggle with those Scandinavians and that damn style they play with. Direct, counter, long balls and everything is a set piece, seriously what's with these people and making throw ins a legit set piece.
Add to the fact this team was under immense pressure to finally win a knockout game, I think they'll play with alot more ease. I hope they do.

We have this boys, just play your game.

 

[Ante]

I feel more confident playing Russia than Denmark that's for sure. We struggle with those Scandinavians and that damn style they play with. Direct, counter, long balls and everything is a set piece, seriously what's with these people and making throw ins a legit set piece.
Add to the fact this team was under immense pressure to finally win a knockout game, I think they'll play with alot more ease. I hope they do.

We have this boys, just play your game.

I don't think the ruskies have anyone that can do these stupid long throw ins...that's two games we have faced it in a row, so if they do this also we'll be ready. )

The ruskies do have some 6 '6 (or so?) monster target man up front. He'll dwarf Vida and Lovren and knock everything down so our other guys need to be ready to follow the trailing men.

And Strinic was serviceable the first games but was absolute crap yesterday. That Paulsen hack used and abused him all game long. Any time Strinic tries to help in the attack he gets totally exposed. I don't know if the ruskies have anyone good out wide, but no doubt they'll target Strinic...

If Perisic has a good game we'll be fine. But apart from the one mishit in front of the net, he was invisible yesterday.

 

[tudja]

If Perisic has a good game we'll be fine. But apart from the one mishit in front of the net, he was invisible yesterday.

He doesn't look as the Perisic from 2014 WC. He lacks pace and willingness to go forward... and his technique with the ball yesterday was not quality, which is strange considering his abilities. I don't know if he's injured or simply doesn't have the same energy...

 

[Zelja]

He doesn't look as the Perisic from 2014 WC. He lacks pace and willingness to go forward... and his technique with the ball yesterday was not quality, which is strange considering his abilities. I don't know if he's injured or simply doesn't have the same energy...

Not coming together for him in attack as yet but there's hope that it will & that will shift the team to another gear if that happens.

I also think that he's tracked back a lot more in this tournament than he usually does and that may affect his offensive game. Still had 6 shots today - maybe they'll starting going in soon.

 

[pivorakija]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1013757070536003584

 

[Ante]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1013757070536003584

:bowing:

 

[pivorakija]

Stigla prva dijagnoza: Kovačić

https://gol.dnevnik.hr/clanak/svjetsko-prvenstvo-2018/sp-rusija-mateo-kovacic-ipak-lakse-ozlijedjen-ali-je-upitan-za-rusiju---522514.html

Premda se strahovalo od najgoreg, ozljeda ramena hrvatskog reprezentativca Matea Kovačića u susretu osmine finala protiv Danske ipak nije bila toliko teška.

"MR nije pokazao značajnije koštane ili tetivne ozljede ramenog zgloba," poručio je glasnogovornik Hrvatskog nogometnog saveza (HNS) Tomislav Pacak.

Dodao je kako se planira terapija i pošteda nekoliko dana nakon čega će se procijeniti konkurira li Kovačić za utakmicu Hrvatske i Rusije.

 

[Hajduk_Hrvatska]

All I've been thinking about the last 24 hours has been this match.
We have such an incredible chance at this tournament now. We are favourites in this match and would only be slight underdogs in the semi's if we play England but not any of the other 3 (i'd like to avoid Sweden tho)
if there's one change I'd make it's to bring on Badelj for Brozović. Badelj I feel is better at man marking, whereas Broz is better at zonal defending. I think if we use him in this way, they will either bring another mid further forward, enabling us on the counter or concede possession of the mid to us.

 

[SPURS_LUKA_FAN]

I don't think the ruskies have anyone that can do these stupid long throw ins...that's two games we have faced it in a row, so if they do this also we'll be ready. )

The ruskies do have some 6 '6 (or so?) monster target man up front. He'll dwarf Vida and Lovren and knock everything down so our other guys need to be ready to follow the trailing men.

And Strinic was serviceable the first games but was absolute crap yesterday. That Paulsen hack used and abused him all game long. Any time Strinic tries to help in the attack he gets totally exposed. I don't know if the ruskies have anyone good out wide, but no doubt they'll target Strinic...

If Perisic has a good game we'll be fine. But apart from the one mishit in front of the net, he was invisible yesterday.

Come on man, let's stay positive here, Strinic is not a world beater, but he's done alright, probably not as match fit due to rubbish season, Pivaric subbed alright for him, we conceded our goal from the other side of the pitch dough, I heard on a podcast analysis that the Denmark throwin was illegal, the guy practically threw it with one hand spinning the ball in an awkward fashion which bamboozled our defense.
Perisic right now worries me most, he needs to hit some form now, we relied on his speed and finishing in the past, he must come good for the next game/s, Rebic also could improve his composure and finishing-the kid should have shot immediately when he passed Schmeichel, what was he waiting for after dribbling past Kasper - almost inviting the Danish defender to foul him when he had an OPEN GOAL - madness!

 

[dalmate]

Come on man, let's stay positive here, Strinic is not a world beater, but he's done alright, probably not as match fit due to rubbish season, Pivaric subbed alright for him, we conceded our goal from the other side of the pitch dough, I heard on a podcast analysis that the Denmark throwin was illegal, the guy practically threw it with one hand spinning the ball in an awkward fashion which bamboozled our defense.
Perisic right now worries me most, he needs to hit some form now, we relied on his speed and finishing in the past, he must come good for the next game/s, Rebic also could improve his composure and finishing-the kid should have shot immediately when he passed Schmeichel, what was he waiting for after dribbling past Kasper - almost inviting the Danish defender to foul him when he had an OPEN GOAL - madness!

SLF, Rebic WAS the only player who has played at an high level during 120 mins, yeah 120 mins... Ok, he did a dribble against Schmeichel but without the fault, for sure this was a goal. Jorgensen did his fault exactly in the time when Rebic wanted to strike the ball.

Really, I don't know if you saw how he ran all the time?!

I watched the game 3 times and at 110', he did a sprint on 100 meters, from our box only for make the press on Schmeichel when we send the ball away from our box by a Kovacic strike.

This guy is crazy and strongly motivated, a BEAST !

Really, you can't ask at a guy to make this kind of effort and in the same time, score in one touch etc... front of Schmeichel who is a really strong and good GK.

Imagine, if he tried to score during the one on one and see him miss his strike... All the croatian fans will be here to demolish him because he had the occasion to win the game !

Plus and this is REALLY IMPORTANT, he did his dribble in the box and all the strikers knows how a GK would not take a risk in this position. This is the reason why he did this dribble because in his mind, Rebic was convinced that if there is a contact in the box, it would be a Penalty for us, red card for the GK etc...

And finally, Rebic is really confident on his tricks when our Perisic in not !

I'm clearly not worried at all by Rebic who is in the form of his life, but for Perisic, this is really complicated and we've seen agaisnt Denmark how he is hesitant and by times really bad...

 

[SPURS_LUKA_FAN]

SLF, Rebic WAS the only player who has played at an high level during 120 mins, yeah 120 mins... Ok, he did a dribble against Schmeichel but without the fault, for sure this was a goal. Jorgensen did his fault exactly in the time when Rebic wanted to strike the ball.

Really, I don't know if you saw how he ran all the time?!

I watched the game 3 times and at 110', he did a sprint on 100 meters, from our box only for make the press on Schmeichel when we send the ball away from our box by a Kovacic strike.

This guy is crazy and strongly motivated, a BEAST !

Really, you can't ask at a guy to make this kind of effort and in the same time, score in one touch etc... front of Schmeichel who is a really strong and good GK.

Imagine, if he tried to score during the one on one and see him miss his strike... All the croatian fans will be here to demolish him because he had the occasion to win the game !

Plus and this is REALLY IMPORTANT, he did his dribble in the box and all the strikers knows how a GK would not take a risk in this position. This is the reason why he did this dribble because in his mind, Rebic was convinced that if there is a contact in the box, it would be a Penalty for us, red card for the GK etc...

And finally, Rebic is really confident on his tricks when our Perisic in not !

I'm clearly not worried at all by Rebic who is in the form of his life, but for Perisic, this is really complicated and we've seen agaisnt Denmark how he is hesitant and by times really bad...

No real criticism for Rebic, he was awesome and is one of our best players in the tournament, just that one situation looked like he could have shot immediately after dribbling past Schmeichel and hesitated slightly almost as if he didn't expect to get past him and just delayed the shot on goal by half a second! I'm talking about minute details here - Perisic on the other hand has a long way to go to regain his form from Euro 2016! Just imagine how we would play with those two firing on all cylinders on the wings and our mid field maestros?!

 

[Hajduk_Hrvatska]

SLF, Rebic WAS the only player who has played at an high level during 120 mins, yeah 120 mins... Ok, he did a dribble against Schmeichel but without the fault, for sure this was a goal. Jorgensen did his fault exactly in the time when Rebic wanted to strike the ball.

Really, I don't know if you saw how he ran all the time?!

I watched the game 3 times and at 110', he did a sprint on 100 meters, from our box only for make the press on Schmeichel when we send the ball away from our box by a Kovacic strike.

This guy is crazy and strongly motivated, a BEAST !

Really, you can't ask at a guy to make this kind of effort and in the same time, score in one touch etc... front of Schmeichel who is a really strong and good GK.

Imagine, if he tried to score during the one on one and see him miss his strike... All the croatian fans will be here to demolish him because he had the occasion to win the game !

Plus and this is REALLY IMPORTANT, he did his dribble in the box and all the strikers knows how a GK would not take a risk in this position. This is the reason why he did this dribble because in his mind, Rebic was convinced that if there is a contact in the box, it would be a Penalty for us, red card for the GK etc...

And finally, Rebic is really confident on his tricks when our Perisic in not !

I'm clearly not worried at all by Rebic who is in the form of his life, but for Perisic, this is really complicated and we've seen agaisnt Denmark how he is hesitant and by times really bad...

If you look at the tracking statistics it's clear that Rebic was not running as much as Perisic when not in possession but was saving himself for sprints downfield when we had the ball. Perisic was doing more of the tracking back which makes sense considering his experience. It worked to a degree and we came away with no yellows, but Perisic was visibly gassed in the attacking third.

 

[dalmate]

No real criticism for Rebic, he was awesome and is one of our best players in the tournament, just that one situation looked like he could have shot immediately after dribbling past Schmeichel and hesitated slightly almost as if he didn't expect to get past him and just delayed the shot on goal by half a second! I'm talking about minute details here - Perisic on the other hand has a long way to go to regain his form from Euro 2016! Just imagine how we would play with those two firing on all cylinders on the wings and our mid field maestros?!

Yeah I totally agree with your point SLF, and imagine a team where Pjaca, Kramaric and Kovacic would be in very good form. We could be really strong !

I think that every teams in the world would be afraid to play against us !

 

[dalmate]

If you look at the tracking statistics it's clear that Rebic was not running as much as Perisic when not in possession but was saving himself for sprints downfield when we had the ball. Perisic was doing more of the tracking back which makes sense considering his experience. It worked to a degree and we came away with no yellows, but Perisic was visibly gassed in the attacking third.

Yeah I agree HH, but at 110' when everybody was tired with some cramps, Rebic was always on fire. This is crazy, when we know how he recovered from an injury only few weeks ago...

For his second World Cup, the guy take his chance and run on the field as a beast and is fighting on every single ball (look at our goal against Denmark (and the counter attack before the missed pk from Modric) and our first goal against Argentina).

I really love the guy, this is clearly the way that I loved to play and how I would like to see my future children play. He's a warrior who is playing with passion/determination and this is the points that I really love in a player and human being !

 

[HajdukSplit]

Saw this game is in Sochi, that pitch is a disaster, cuts up easily and by the end of the URU-POR match players were slipping like crazy