After the last heavy defeat to Spain, do you think Croatia is getting old? You couldn't be more wrong!
In fact, Croatia didn't play too badly in the last game, this is not a nonsense, let's look at the technical statistics after the game, Croatia is not much different from Spain in terms of expected goal value and excellent chances.
The main reason for the fiasco was that the striker played too outrageously, not only could he not score a header from close range, but you can see Petkovic even missed a penalty.
However, Croatia's midfield trio was in perfect shape, with Luka Modric completing a game-high 13 passes despite only playing 65 minutes, while Mateo Kovacic contributed four successful dribbles and was still excellent with the ball.
As long as control of the midfield is not lost, Croatia's basic handicap is still there!
Although Albania have a good ability to defend intensively, their defensive problems were exposed in the last game, that is, they are too afraid of high ball crosses, and Italy's equaliser goal came through a cross header.
Croatia, on the other hand, can be said to be a professional crosser, with a 24.8% cross success rate at the 2022 World Cup, completing an average of 5.4 crosses per game. The strikers in the team include 190 Budimir, 193 Petkovic, 186 Perisic and others, all of whom have strong ability to compete for the top and have very good header skills.
In the cup, if you want to break through the dense defense, the most effective thing is to bomb directly with a header, and Croatia's offensive opportunities today will definitely not be less, and the iron is still expected to seize the opportunity and successfully get 3 points!