World Cup 2018, England vs Croatia: 4 players from each team to look out for

Croatia

Croatia has the silk and the steel

The Croatian team is a well-oiled machine which runs on two cylinders, Ivan Rakitic and Luka Modric, two of the finest midfielders of their generation. But the strength of Croatia is that it is not just a collection of brilliant individuals, but a proper team of players who compliment each other.

Croatia have scored 10 goals so far, one less than England, but have let in exactly the same 4 goals. They have 78 shots on goal so far, with 19 of them on target. They have also committed and suffered more fouls than their rivals. But in stark contrast to England, they have 8 different goal scorers.

Croatia were deft and mature in their close wins against both Denmark and Russia, both of which went to penalties, but it also showed that this team has nerves of steel. So watch out for these 4 players when they play England:

Ivan Rakitic

Croatia's midfield is second to none

The Barcelona midfielder seems totally at home in his Croatian team and is a cool customer, as is evident from his penalty conversions in the last 2 games. Rakitic has covered 48.3 Kilometres in the 5 games he has played for Croatia, attempting 279 passes and completing 239 of them.

He has 12 attempts on goal, the second highest in the team, with 5 of them on target. He has 9 deliveries and 1 dribble into the penalty box and has attempted 6 crosses. He has also recovered the ball 26 times, evidence of how hard he works for the team, and has attempted 4 tackles and 5 clearances.

His deadly combination with Modric, club rivals in La Liga, is the heart of Croatia’s superb run in this World Cup.

Luka Modric

The Croatian Skipper has been everywhere on the field, and seems to be good at everything he does. He has covered 50.8 Kilometres in the 5 games he has played, attempting 367 passes and completing 304 of them.

He has 10 attempts on goal, with 4 of them on target, and he is their highest scorer, with 2 goals. He has attempted 11 deliveries and 2 dribbles into the box and has attempted a gigantic 27 crosses, the highest in both teams!

He has also attempted 8 tackles, the highest in his team along with Kovacic and has recovered the ball 27 times. With such a diverse set of skills in his repertoire, England will be worried about Modric the most.