Match #5: England vs Croatia

 

AB: 

There are a lot of expectations of this English team, with many putting them as second favourites to win the tournament after France. I hope Southgate doesn’t shoot himself in the foot by taking too defensive an approach especially given that Harry Maguire is not playing. However it is at the other end, and with the other Harry that the real strength of this English team lies. Kane is a world class striker, and he has players of real quality to play with. Whomever of Foden, Sterling, Sancho, Grealish, Rashford or Mount starts will be a threat to the opposition.

Croatia are an aging side but still boast of quality in midfield and going forward in Modric, Kovacic, Brozovic, Perisic, Rebic and Kramaric. England’s defence might be suspect and Croatia will exploit any lapses.

I think the key here is to score first. I’ll go with a 2-1 victory to England, with Kane being clinical and making the difference.


dark7knight:

"bring home the cup" they say, and that starts with this first match, an opportunity to take revenge for the world cup loss, an opportunity for England to show that they can mix it with the best in Europe and the world. So do you trust your conservative system that has worked well so far, or do you let the young guns loose, (think spain 2008) ?over to you-Gareth!

Personally I think he will go for a mixture of both, but England has too much firepower & options off the bench. Even if Kane, Sterling, Rashford starts in the front 3, you can awlays bring on Foden, Sancho, Grealish, Bellingham any time, while for Croatia- nothing beyond the starting 11! so,  Going for a 3-1 in favour of England. Croatia giving their best but falling short..

AK:

Going for a Croatia win here with 2-1 scoreline. England will struggle in midfield against the trio of Modric, Kovacic and Brozovic. With Maguire absent the pairing of Stones with Mings has disaster written all over it. I suspect Gareth will go with a defensive approach and allow Croatia to dictate terms. England have some flair players and finishers and most likely will score but it won't be enough to salvage anything. As they are in most tournaments, they will be under pressure to win last 2 games in the group with Gareth's selection drawing heavy criticism from the English press. 

ADG:

Going for a eye bleeding boring 1-1 draw. England's defence is shit and Southgate is so so negative. And Croatia is old. Modric may have a trick or two up his sleeve though.

MK:

I will go with a 1-1. Southgate doesn't know his best 11, and is likely to play the 11 he fancies most on the eve of the match. He has generally been indecisive, as evidenced by his squad selection and fielding Lingard, JWP, etc in the friendlies. One can hope that within the English camp the Maguire factor isn't as big a distraction as it is for the media. All this said, England needs this 90 minutes to bring the focus back to football.

With Modric, Rebic, Perisic and co, Croatia is experienced to grind out a result. England has more options than they've had in the past in attack and Southgate has enough Plan Bs to ensure England can find goals in a tight match. Despite all this, I see England needing this one for nerves to settle, and fire from the second match.

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