According to the schedule, at 0:00 a.m. Beijing time on June 16, Group B of Euro 2024 will usher in a key match, against Spain and Croatia. As we all know, the expansion of the team to 24 teams from this European Championship means that there is less chance of a strong conversation in the group stage, but it is still surprisingly born the group of death, which is Group B. In addition to Spain and Croatia, there is also Italy, who are returning to the European Championships, and Albania from Eastern Europe is hard not to tremble when they are caught between three big teams.
Spain and Croatia were the first to face each other and a reunion of old rivals, in the UEFA Nations League final a year ago, Spain and Croatia battled for 120 minutes to defeat the tenacious Plaid Army on penalties. Speaking of which, Croatia's performance in international competitions in recent years can be described as shocking to the world, reaching the 2018 World Cup final, the 2022 World Cup semifinals, and the UEFA Nations League final. And in the process of Croatia's promotion, it is often accompanied by very difficult attrition wars, and the number of penalties is very high, but they always miss out on victory at the last moment, and the overall appearance is very sad.
As the soul of this Croatian team, Modric has never been able to win the championship for the national team, although he has already won the championship at the club, and this should be his last time representing Croatia in an international competition, and he must hope to leave no regrets. However, after 4 or 5 years of hard work, Croatia has inevitably experienced the aging of personnel, and meritorious players such as Mandzukic and Rakitic have also bid farewell to the national team early. Although among the new generation of players, there are future stars with great potential such as Stanisic and Gvardiol, most of the players are around 30 years old, and Modric is already 39 years old.
In contrast, the former world champion Spain, although far less powerful than it was back then, after all, there are more young talents and the staffing is more reasonable. If Croatia still fights a war of attrition every time like previous tournaments, I am afraid it will still be difficult to hold on to the end. Not to mention, the value of Spanish players is not low, reaching 960 million euros, second only to the three favorites of England, France and Portugal. Croatian players are generally not worth much due to their age, totalling 286 million euros. The value doesn't fully reflect the quality, but it does prove the current state of the two teams, Croatia's strength lies in experience and fighting spirit, and if they can make good use of both points, there is still a good chance of breaking out of the group of death.
Since it is a group of death, it means that no one can afford to lose, especially the first game, once the loss may seriously affect morale and lead to the collapse of subsequent games. Judging from the past record, the 1.2 billion euro duel between Spain and Croatia is still Spain has a slight upper hand, the two teams have met in the past 6 times, and the Matadors have won 4 times, including a 6-0 victory in the 2018 UEFA Nations League. However, Spain and Croatia have drawn their last two meetings, and Croatia have also lost badly, having been knocked out on penalties by Spain at the last European Championship.
Overall, Spain are the only team to have won three consecutive international tournaments and have an illustrious history, but that was more than 10 years ago. Croatia are the "uncrowned kings" of the new era, and the performances of recent tournaments have been impressive, and the two teams are evenly matched in terms of strength alone, and the on-the-spot performance and the individual flashes of the stars are likely to determine the direction of the game. This game, CCTV5 will be broadcast live, don't miss it!