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Croatia have surprisingly been below par in the ongoing European Championships. The Blazers were on a different level during the 2018 FIFA World Cup, where they reached the final.
However, a lot has changed in the last three years. Ivan Rakitic and Mario Mandzukic have since retired, while Croatia's current squad is ageing. On Friday, Zlatko Dalic watched his side battle to a disappointing 1-1 draw against the Czech Republic at Hampden Park.
Croatia made a slow start to the game and never quite switched from first gear. Despite boasting a superior team, the Czechs were largely comfortable in the game.
Croatia fail to sparkle against Czech Republic
On paper, Croatia have one of the strongest midfields at Euro 2020. The combination of Luka Modric, Marcelo Brozovic and Mateo Kovacic can rival any midfield on their day.
However, the Blazers are currently lacking attacking firepower. They haven’t managed to get a replacement for Mandzukic yet, and the team is paying for it.
While Ante Rebic is decent, he is not a typical centre-forward and struggles to play with his back to goal. This shortcoming made it easy for the Czech Republic defence to deal with the nominal threat posed by the AC Milan man.
After losing their first game against England, Croatia badly needed to win against the Czechs to give themselves a fighting chance of staying afloat at Euro 2020. However, they produced yet another disappointing performance.
Croatia facing early exit at Euro 2020
Croatia were limping ahead of Euro 2020. Their form wasn’t the best, as they won just three of their last 14 matches.
However, Dalic's side were tipped by many as one of the dark horses at Euro 2020. After two matches, though, Croatia row risk exiting the tournament at the group stage.
"Tactically, it didn’t work perfectly for us. We used lots of energy,” the Croatia boss said in the aftermath of the game, as quoted by the Herald. "Individually we took too long. We have to work compactly as a team. The second half changed the story. We scored very quickly but were not really great, despite the chances for Petkovic and Vlasic. The score is realistic. First of all we need to win. Four points is going to be sufficient to move on. We cannot talk about goal difference just now; the most important thing is to win.”
Indeed, it’s now win or nothing for Croatia in their last group game against Scotland. The Scots are a well-motivated side, and they won’t be pushovers, which further diminishes Croatia’s chances of reaching the last 16.
