Croatia opens its World Cup campaign with a 4:2 loss to England

The Croatian national football team lost to England 4:2 (2:2 at the half) in the first round of Group L action at the World Cup on Wednesday night. The game was played in Dallas Texas, in front of 70 389 spectators – including many from the Croatian community in North America.

Croatia opened the game well, applying pressure in the offensive end and playing with purpose. However, this lasted only for the first five minutes of play. Coach Zlatko Dalić’s team then seemed to lose its direction, with many players looking as though they weren’t singing from the same songbook. England turned the tables and began applying pressure of its own, quickly containing Croatia in its own end. This pressure resulted in an England corner kick in the 12th minute of play that led to a penalty shot for England, after captain Luka Modrić inadvertently fouled Noni Mandueke in the penalty box while trying to clear the ball.

French referee Clement Turpin awarded the penalty and English captain Harry Kane fired the shot, however in the first of many heroics in the game goalkeeper Dominik Livaković made the save. The joy for Croatia was short lived as Turpin would go on to award a second attempt after ruling that Livaković had left the goal line early. Kane would succeed in his second attempt.

In many ways this was the tone of the entire game. Croatia would struggle to clear its own end, passing from player to player in their own end, with England squeezing them further and further towards their own goal and waiting for the inevitable mistake. Croatia would then be saved by an impressive individual effort or sudden burst of common effort, only to relinquish the position through ineffective and lackluster play from its midfield and defense – both of which were arguably non-existent at crucial times throughout the game.

Croatia spent much of the first half on its heels, seemingly unable to move as a unit and cover the English team that made use of the entire width of the pitch. This was especially noticeable in repeated sprints down the wing by Mandueke that seemed to routinely catch left back Joško Gvardiol out of position. As pressure from England mounted, Croatia’s defense became prone to rookie mistakes, the midfield lacked the creative vision to formulate an attack of consequence and the team as a whole seemed unable or unwilling to create the space needed to consistently pose a serious threat in offensive end. It almost seemed as though Croatia had forgotten the old adage "The best defense is a good offense."

Brief bursts of inspiration were the only factor keeping Croatia in touch. In the 36th minute of play Petar Sučić played a nice give-and-go with winger Martin Baturina who apparently had an epiphany (possibly remembering Johan Cruyff’s famous quote: "you can't score if you don't shoot"), and fired a bullet from the top of the penalty area past the outstretched arms of England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford. However, the joy was once again short-lived, as Kane re-established the lead for England just six minutes later. The goal was the result of Croatian’s inability to establish its game and control the ball, once again letting England push Croatia into its own end, back on its heels playing defense.

And once again, from out of nowhere, Croatia had a rare moment of inspiration and equaled on a well-conceived attack that saw Mario Pašalić cross the ball in for Ivan Perišić, who headed the ball onto Petar Musa's leg, who "punched" that ball into the net past a defenseless Pickford in the fifth minute of stoppage time of the first half. The goal was only his second for the national team and could not have come at a better time. It was also somewhat fitting given that Musa plays his club football for FC Dallas and was effectively playing on home turf.

With the late first half goal, momentum, and the half-time to reorganize, Croatia had dodged a bullet and appeared ready to get back to playing the football that has made it world famous: possession, technical mastery, and a dominant midfield. Alas, it was not meant to be as only two minutes into the second half and Jude Bellingham scored for England.

A substitution in the 57th minute of play that brought Mateo Kovačić in for Modrić did provide a spark in the midfield, but was still not enough to turn the tide and by the 85th minute of play Marcus Rashford scored for England to put the game out of reach.

Ultimately, England led in every statistical category except offsides and fouls. This includes 12 shots on net to Croatia’s 5 and 8 corner kicks to Croatia’s 2. England even edged Croatian in possession by 54% to 46%. All in all, Croatia was uninspired and did not deserve to win. It has the talent, the ability and a good combination of youth and experience. What appears to be missing is the team, the ability to move as a unit on the pitch, to move with purpose and to maintain the dynamic play it showed briefly at the start of the England game throughout all 90 minutes. England is now behind Croatia and all is not lost. Croatia must now learn from its mistakes, regroup and come back stronger.

Croatia will play Panama next in Toronto on June 24th at 1:00 Croatian time (June 23rd at 19:00 local time). In the 3rd and final round of the group stage they will play against Ghana on June 27th in Philadelphia at 23:00 Croatian time, or 17:00 local time. In the other Group “L” game on Wednesday Ghana defeated Panama 1:0 in Toronto.

Source: HRT