One of the least played fixtures in European international football, Croatia and The Netherlands have only met each other twice before in their history despite their impressive international stature. Now, they face their unfamiliar foes in the semi-finals of the Nation’s League.
The competition is in its ascendancy, new to the stage, the Nations League has all but replaced international friendlies in Europe and the lustre of being one of the first recipients and champions of the competition holds true. Both sides have had impressive campaigns in the competition thus far and the fixtures have taken a back seat to accommodate for the World Cup late last year.
After a very shaky start last June, losing 0-3 to Austria and drawing with France, Croatia went on to go undefeated in their remaining 4 group games, including impressive double victories against a resurgent Denmark, a 1-0 win against France and getting revenge versus Austria in the reverse fixture.
Their opponents started in much more impressive fashion, seeing off their rivals Belgium 4-1 away before beating Wales 2-1 the following week. They finished their route through their group undefeated with a 2-2 draw against Poland, putting 3 past Wales in a close 3-2, shutting out the Poles with a 2-0 win before finishing top of the group by some margin with another win against Belgium, 1-0 back in Amsterdam.
Both sides had fairly respectable world cup campaigns after beginning the competition being talked about among the favourites. The Dutch won Group A, defeating Senegal and hosts Qatar and drawing with Ecuador, they eventually bowed out in the quarterfinals in a humiliating 0-4 defeat to eventual finalists France. Often the maybe-men of recent times, Croatia made it to another competition semi-final, losing to eventual winners Argentina and then defeating an impressive Morocco side in the third-place playoff after drawing with them in their group.
Gone may be the heady days of Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder, Robin van Persie and the like, leading the most recent crop of Holland’s back catalogue of incredible talent, but we saw glimpses of this generation of players coming together and gelling as a unit during the World Cup. The heart of the team for the past few years in Blind, de Vrij, Wijnaldum & van Dijk remain. But excellency has found it’s way through the late-blooming Marten de Roon for example. Frenkie de Jong has been setting La Liga alight in a Barcelona shirt this season. Included in the squad are of course Champions League finalist’s Denzel Dumfries and Nathan Ake. Ronald Koeman’s side is one of plenty of raw talent and a semi-final in this competition is no less than a side with these names deserves.
Zlatko Dalic’s Croatia are not without their own superstars of course. With Luka Modric announcing that international retirement was not on the cards after the World Cup, fans worldwide will be happy to see the generational midfielder don the checkered shirt once again. Equally impressive is Ivan Perisic’s longevity, he is level on goals with the towering Maro Mandzukic for Croatia’s 2nd all-time scorer and vice-captain centre half Domagoj Vida has just entered the 100 club for caps. It could be argued that this Croatia side is perhaps lacking some youthful exuberance and that many of their stars’ time in the forefront is limited, but anyone who watched the aforementioned players would be left with little doubt as to why they are still in the squad. Backed up by players in their prime such as Andrej Kramaric and Champions League finalist Marcelo Brozovic, they are a team that can play in a variety of ways.
Expert Insight: Both Josko Gvardiol and Memphis Depay will miss out through injury and Holland’s depth in attack outweighs Croatia’s depth in defence. The hole left by Gvardiol could be the opening the Oranje need to see them into the final.
UEFA Nations League