Lose to the golden generation of fate! Croatia was on the verge of going out, conceding six goals in three games and being punished for gnawing at the old age

Obayer

2024-06-25 05:27Posted in Shandong Sports Creators

Zaccagni's last-minute goal allowed Italy to advance to the round of 16 and Croatia almost lost hope of qualifying. If they fail to qualify for the round of 16, it will be the first time Croatia have failed to reach the group stage since 2012. Croatia's golden generation, led by Luka Modric, will continue the curse of never winning the title, and after the European Championships, the Plaid Army will face difficult choices.

After 12 years, he re-entered the group of death

One of the reasons why Croatia was eliminated from the competition was that the opponents were too strong. The last time the Plaid Army failed to qualify for the knockout rounds was at Euro 2012, when they were also drawn in the same group as Italy and Spain. Croatia failed to qualify after a 3-1 win over Ireland in their opening game, a 1-1 draw with Italy and a 1-0 defeat to Spain.

After 12 years, Croatia is once again in the same group as the two European Cup winners. This time the performance was even worse, with a heavy defeat to Spain in the first game and a draw by Albania in the second.

Against Italy, Luka Modric's goal gave Croatia hope of qualifying. However, Zaccagni's late goal sent Croatia back to hell in an instant. As in 12, Croatia lost again to Spain and drew again with Italy.

After three rounds, Croatia have only two points. Croatia are only fifth of the six third-placed teams in their group, and if Slovenia lose to England by less than two goals, then the Plaid Army will be out of the tournament.

Conceded 6 goals in 3 games, setting an embarrassing record

With a 3-0 defeat to Spain and a 2-2 draw with Albania, Croatia have conceded five goals in two games. Before the match against Italy, Dalic pointed out that "in the 2018 World Cup, we did not concede a goal in the group stage, in the 2022 World Cup we only conceded one goal, this time we have conceded five goals, and every time the opponent threatens to attack, we send the ball into our net. ”

After conceding six goals in three games, Croatia has set a record for goals conceded in the group stage of a major tournament in team history, and also equaled the record set in Euro 2004 and the 2014 World Cup, conceding six goals in both tournaments.

One of the reasons why Croatia's defensive line is open is that the defensive strength in the midfield has dropped, resulting in the defense being exposed to the opponent's forwards. Zaccagni's goal was enough to show that, as Calafiori forced his way down the middle and the out-of-position Brozovic couldn't recover at high speed after being shaken off.

In the second consecutive game against Albania and Italy, Croatia conceded goals in the 95th and 98th minutes respectively, once because there was a leak in the middle of the penalty area, and once when the defensive door in the middle was wide open, and this was the result of physical decline.

Adding up to the 99-year-old three midfielders

Croatia's average age at this tournament is 27.7 years old, ranking fifth out of 16 teams. However, they had an average age of 28.7 years old in their starting line-up against Spain.

What's more, the three midfielders, Luka Modric (38), Kovacic (30) and Brozovic (31), are all over 30 years old.

It is worth emphasizing that on September 11, 2018, Croatia lost 0-6 to Spain in the UEFA Nations League group stage, and Modric, Kovacic and Brozovic all started.

In the life-and-death battle against Italy, Dalic still let these three midfielders start collectively, and also replaced Kovacic and Modric successively.

Former Croatia international Budin said: "We continue to trust in the leaders who have performed well in the past, and it is not easy to put top stars on the bench in an international tournament like this. For example, it's hard to put Luka Modric on the bench. ”

The golden generation lost to fate

Croatia's golden generation, led by Luka Modric, would have had a chance to make a breakthrough. In the 2018 World Cup, Croatia reached the final, but unfortunately lost to France. In the 2022 World Cup, Croatia once again won the third place.

Croatia's performance at the Euros has been quite poor compared to their performances at the World Cup, with Euro 2012 reaching the group stage and advancing to the knockout stages three times in 2008, 2016 and 2020, but never past the first round of the knockout round.

In the 2022-23 UEFA Nations League final, the Plaid Army reached the final, which was a great opportunity for them to win the first championship in team history. However, the penalties taken by Majer and Petkovic were blocked, leaving Croatia to miss out on the title.

After the European Championship, whether Modric (38 years old), Vida (35 years old), Perisic (35 years old), Kramaric (33 years old), Budimir (32 years old), Brozovic (31 years old) and Kovacic (30 years old) should retire from the national team, both the player and Dalic are faced with a choice.

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