On Sunday evening, we have the fourth match in the round of sixteen of the World Cup in Russia, and it will be played between Croatia and Denmark, which ended their group phase with no defeats, with the proviso that Croatia made three wins, while Denmark had the effect of one victory and two draws. That is why the role of a mild favourite in this duel belongs to the Croatians, who left the current world vice champions, Argentina, behind, while on the other hand the Danish proved their strength after receiving only one goal in three games. We should also add that both Croatia and Denmark made two wins in their previous five mutual duels, while one of them ended unresolved.
However, their last clash took place in the late 2004, so this statistic is not too relevant before this match in the round of sixteen of the World Cup in Russia. In the opinion of many experts, Croatia has so far left the best impression of all the participants of this championship, especially since they have achieved all three victories in one very demanding group. Namely, everything started with routine triumph of 2-0 over Nigeria, after which they played a duel with the favoured Argentina and showed all their strength and thanks to goals by Rebic, Modric and Rakitic, they came to a great victory of 3-0, and at the same time confirmed the first place in their group. That is why their coach Dalic in the match of the third round against Iceland sent a practically reserve team to the field, but the Croatians still managed to play very well and eventually came to a win of 2-1.
Otherwise, that was the only goal that they have received on the World Cup in Russia, which only tells us that Dalic has taken that defensive part of the Croatian national team to the highest possible level, which had so far often created big problems on these final tournaments. But they will now in the round of sixteen admeasure forces with a team that also showed great disciple in the game and very good game in defence, so Croatians will definitely have to be very patient to reach that much desired goal, which again in the end could easily be crucial for placement in the quarterfinals. As for the starting lineup for this duel with Danes, we are sure that Dalic will send the same 11 players to the field as against Argentina, especially since he rested most of them in the third round.
Probable lineups Croatia: Subasic – Vrsaljko, Vida, Lovren, Strinic – Rakitic, Badelj – Rebic, Modric, Perisic – Mandzukic
Unlike Croatia, which with the maximum effect and from the first place in the group won performance in the round of sixteen, the team of Denmark ended up second in the group, and they also can boast that they did not experience any defeats in the previous three games. However, we have to say that coach Hareide's players have so far had a lot of luck at this World Cup in Russia, because they first played 1-0 against Peru 0, after their rivals did not use the penalty at the result of 0-0, while they won one point against Australia and France, primarily thanks to their brilliant game in defence. However, this only goal in the match with Australia was scored from the penalty, while they against the French played a very boring match without goals, given that both teams knew they a draw leads them to the knockout stage.
All in all, we can say that they quite deservedly won their performance in the round of sixteen, but they are also remained quite obliged in this offensive part, so they will now have to show their far-best game against extremely unpleasant Croats if they want to win the placement in the next round. However, it is to be expected that they will also be very strong in defence this time, with the aim of keeping their goal intact as long as possible, while they in attack mainly rely on Eriksen's creativity and counter-attacks and semi-couner-attacks of the fleet-footed Poulsen and Sisto. We should also add that the experienced midfielder Kvist, who recovered from injury, should be back in the team now, and the already mentioned Poulsen, who had missed a match with France due to suspension.
Probable lineups Denmark: Schmeichel – Dalsgaard, Kjaer, Christensen, Larsen – Kvist, Delaney – Poulsen, Eriksen, Sisto – Jorgensen
This duel, between two very solid and disciplined teams should show a very uncertain and unsparing fight to the last referee's whistle, but we have decided to give Croatia an advantage on the basis of everything they have shown in the group stage matches, especially because they have several superior individuals, unlike the Danes in which everything depends on the mood of Eriksen.
Pick: Croatia wins 1.91 -
91/100 @1XBet