Croatia vs Nigeria Preview

This is most likely the last chance that many of these Croatian players have to win the World Cup.

The likes of Mario Mandzukic, Luka Modric, and Ivan Rakitic are already well in their 30s.

The Croatians were eliminated at the group stage in 2014, and were knocked out of Euro 2016 by eventual winners Portugal in the round of 16.

They are a talented team, but they need to come together to achieve as a team.

They beat Senegal 2-1 in their last friendly game which followed a 2-0 loss to Brazil earlier in the month.

They now have 4 wins from seven games leading up to this match.

Nigeria is not in good form heading into this competition, and many fear that they may become the first team to be eliminated from their group.

The West Africans lost their last warm up game 1-0 against Czech Republic and that was preceded by another 2-1 loss to England.

They are now winless in their last four games, and four of their last six has ended in defeats.

The Super Eagles have plenty of Premier League experience especially in their attacker where Ahmed Musa, Kelechi Iheanacho, and Alex Iwobi will be fighting for a starting place.

The Nigerians have scored at least seven goals in their last ten games, while Croatia have also conceded at least ten goals in their last 15 games.

The Nigerians have conceded seven goals in their last ten games.

Bookmakers make Croatia slight odds-on favourites to come out on top in this tie however as we have seen so far in this tournament, teams are fearful of over committing as two 1:0 90th minute goals showed on Friday.

This is the first time these teams have met.

Possible starting lineups:

Croatia

Nigeria

Results of each team’s last 5 matches across all leagues and competitions

Croatia

LAST FIVE GAMES						DATE	COMPETITION
D	Sweden		0-0		Peru	9 Jun, 2018	International Friendly
W	Saudi Arabia		0-3		Peru	3 Jun, 2018	International Friendly
W	Peru		2-0		Scotland	30 May, 2018	International Friendly
W	Iceland		1-3		Peru	28 Mar, 2018	International Friendly
W	Peru		2-0		Croatia	24 Mar, 2018	International Friendly

Nigeria

LAST FIVE GAMES						DATE	COMPETITION
W	Denmark		2-0		Mexico	9 Jun, 2018	International Friendly
D	Sweden		0-0		Denmark	2 Jun, 2018	International Friendly
D	Denmark		0-0		Chile	27 Mar, 2018	International Friendly
W	Denmark		1-0		Panama	22 Mar, 2018	International Friendly
L	Denmark		2-3		Jordan	15 Jan, 2018	International Friendly

H2H