Croatia vs Albania preview: Croatia must get points, and there is little suspense about the outcome of this game

Playing on the green field

2024-06-19 16:45Published in Guangdong

On June 19, Beijing time, the second round of the group stage of the European Cup kicked off tonight, and in the second round of Group B, Croatia played against Albania.

Croatia must win their next matches to qualify after suffering a heavy defeat in the first round. As we mentioned earlier, Croatia have one of the best in Europe, and although the squad is no longer young, it is very experienced. Croatia have shown great quality in recent years at the World Cup, and their performances have been impressive. They lost to Spain on penalties at the last European Championship and were sadly dropped out of the round of 16.

In Croatia's squad, the quality of the central midfield is good, especially in the midfield. Real Madrid veteran Luka Modric leads, as well as Manchester City's Mateo Kovacic, as well as well-known players such as Brozovic and Perisic. They have impressed the fans in the past, but there's no denying that although they're no longer at their peak, their resilience is still high. At the back, Manchester City's Gvardiol led the way and he was outstanding. Up front, Croatia have been relatively weak, but their control and tenacity should not be underestimated.

Croatia coach Dalic has been in charge since 2017 and he has led the team to good results and is very familiar with the team. However, he will also have to face a Croatian side who are not at their peak and are not one of the favourites in the Champions League, and how they make the most of their experience will determine how far they can go.

Looking at recent performances, Croatia have been excellent defensively, mainly due to their very strong control in midfield. Croatia have conceded just 10 goals in their 15 games leading up to the European Championships, with as many as eight of them keeping a clean sheet. In their last game, Croatia beat Portugal 2-1 away and they are unbeaten in their last six matches with five wins and one draw.

In the first game of the European Cup, Croatia played against Spain, the team fell behind 0-3 at half-time, although they also created good scoring opportunities throughout the game, but the lack of ability to grasp the opportunity is true, from the perspective of Croatia's large lineup, the forward position is slightly shabby.

Albania, on the other hand, were resilient in their first game, but they are currently ranked 66th in the world and have limited attacking firepower because they are very conservative. Let's take a look at the history of Albania, who have been competing in the European qualifiers since 1974 and did not play in the European Championship for the first time until 2016. In the 8 group games, they have achieved 4 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss, including beating European powerhouses Czech Republic and Poland to qualify for the main round of the European Championship as the first in the group.

Albania's head coach is Brazilian Silvinho, who has served as an assistant coach of the Brazilian national team and the head coach of several Brazilian clubs, and has a good coaching resume. In January 2023, he started coaching the Albanian national team.

Albania have 12 players in the squad from the top five leagues, including as many as nine from Serie A. Atalanta defender Dimist has been in excellent form this season, helping Atalanta to the Europa League this season, and he is versatile defensively, with Albania being an important part of the group's progress. Of course, compared to Croatia, Albania's overall strength is much inferior.

Albania suffered a 2-1 defeat to defending champions Italy in the first group game of the European Championship, suffering a dark start to this European Championship. However, they showed good fighting power and scored first. However, they are not good at playing away and neutral games, with only a 10% win rate in their last 10 away games. And the team's proud defense has also declined a lot recently, with only two clean sheets in the last six games, and it will be difficult for Albania to get out of the way against slightly stronger opponents.

Looking at the recent form of the two teams, combined with the first game of the European Cup, it is still the same sentence, Croatia is no longer young, their peak has passed, the 0-3 defeat to Spain in the first game hit the team's morale, but the score does not fully present the process of the game, and Croatia's strength is by no means a portrayal of the 0-3 score result. Albania, on the other hand, scored first against Italy, but against Croatia, who had to pick up points, they struggled to defend themselves against the Plaid Army, who had adapted to the game after a defeat.

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