On the evening of June 19, the second round of the group stage of the European Championship began, and Croatia in Group B took the lead in the game, and the opponent was Albania, a weak team that lost 1-2 to the defending champion Italy. Just 11 minutes into the game, Albania took advantage of a counter-attacking opportunity to score 1-0 over Croatia. In the second half, Croatia scored twice in three minutes, but their opponents stubbornly made it 2-2 before the end. After two rounds of group stage, Croatia finished at the bottom of the group with 1 draw and 1 loss, and the qualifying situation was precarious.
Croatia, as a top 10 national team in the FIFA rankings, had a disappointing performance in the first round of the group stage. Their squad is ageing badly, with five of the six midfielders in their thirties over the age of 30. Among them, the midfield trio of 38-year-old Luka Modric, 31-year-old Brozovic and 30-year-old Kovacic is more than solid and less mobile. Although the "Magic Flute" still has skills and awareness, he is about to turn 39 years old, and he has been reduced to a substitute at Real Madrid this season, and it is difficult to cover the whole field like when he won the runner-up in the 2018 World Cup.
A year after Brozovic left for the Saudi league, his form has also dropped a lot, and the advance of the midfield has only been handed over to Kovacic, who has also been a substitute at Manchester City this season, resulting in Croatia's midfield not being strong enough and providing little support to the attack.
In addition, the team's line-up at the back was widely questioned after the match with Spain, and Manchester City defender Gvardiol, who is worth 80 million euros, did not appear in the central defender position on which he relied for his fame in the Qatar World Cup, but was transferred to play left-back, which made the team's backline full of holes in the face of Spain's young striker, and the starting central defender Pongracic received a lot of criticism from the outside world.
Albania scored early in the first game against Italy, but they were quickly reversed by their opponents, and the ensuing game was not as close as the 1-2 scoreline. Thanks to the "generosity" of Italy's forwards, Albania, ranked only 66th in the world, did not suffer a heavy defeat.
Geographically, Croatia and Albania belong to the same Balkan Peninsula country, separated by only one Montenegro. This is the first official meeting between the two teams in a major tournament. Due to the defeat of the first game, both teams in this meeting are allowed to win, only to win to ensure the hope of qualifying from the group, the losing side is likely to go home in advance.
In the starting lineup, due to the 0-3 defeat to Spain in the last game, Croatia can only retain their hopes of qualifying from the group by winning the opponent in this game. Compared to the game against Spain, Croatia, who had no way out, made three personnel changes and four changes, and the 29-year-old striker Petkovic, who played 40 minutes as a substitute in the last game and missed a penalty, was used in the center of the position.
The remaining two changes were centred at the back, with Pongracic being removed after a poor performance last time, and Joshua Gvardiol returning to centre-back and his left-back spot being left to veteran Perisic. In addition, Juranovic replaced Stanišić at right-back.
Croatia will face defending champions Italy in the final round of the group stage, and given Croatia's current staffing and squad form, it will not be easy to score a point against the defending champions. Therefore, from the adjustment of the starting lineup in this game, it can also be seen that the head coach Dalic is dissatisfied with the team's defense and offensive end in the first game, and hopes that with such changes, it can help the "Plaid Army" to find its form and win this crucial game.
After the start of the game, Croatia pressed frequently, wanting to establish an advantage on the field as soon as possible, and Majer and Perisic continued to create threats on both sides. In the 8th minute, Petkovic broke forward to create a free kick opportunity in front of the penalty area, and Modric's pass was cleared by the opponent's header. In the 10th minute, Modric got rid of the defense on the left side of the penalty area and crossed with the outside of his right foot, but unfortunately it was destroyed by the opposing defender again.
In the 11th minute, Albania counterattacked, Asani crossed with his left foot after a kickback on the right, and Rachi inserted a header into the near corner in the middle, 0-1! Croatia started from behind, while Albania made a comeback after scoring a goal that went down in European Championship history for 23 seconds.
At half-time, Croatia trailed Albania 0-1. And the 38-year-old former Ballon d'Or winner Luka Modric and his Croatian team are likely to face the fate of going out of the group stage if they can't turn the score around in the later games.
In the 74th minute of the second half, Kovacic broke through and crossed, and Kramaric calmly deducted the defender's right foot in the penalty area and fired a low shot into the near corner, 1-1!
In the 76th minute, Kramaric made a direct pass, Pasalic made three inverted passes near the bottom line on the left side, and Sucic inserted a left-footed shot and hit the opposing player and bounced into the goal! 2-1！
In the 90+5th minute, Albania attacked on the left side, and Jasura, who came on as a substitute in the second half, pushed and scored in front of the goal, 2-2! Albania, ranked 66th in the world, did not give up after the reversal of the score, and scored a stoppage time equalizer!
After two matches, Croatia, the runner-up of the 2018 World Cup and the third runner-up of the 2022 World Cup, drew one and lost one, accumulating 1 point and continuing to rank at the bottom of Group B. In the final round, they can only qualify from the group by beating Italy.