On September 7 at 1.45, Portugal will play against the Croatian team at the Estadio do Algarve, before fighting Italy in the UEFA Nations League 2018/19 first match. Although in the last four meetings, Portugal have always won matches, but this time Cristiano Ronaldo's team did not easily repeat it.
One of the things that caused the weak Portugal team was without Cristiano Ronaldo. The goal machine had just joined the Juventus, Italy squad at the beginning of last summer. He asked not to be called to the national team. And the Portugal coach, Fernando Santos, gave a request to the 33-year-old striker.
He reasoned to be able to focus on Turin, so he could adapt quickly.
"After I talked to him (Ronaldo), and after he went to Juventus he needed adaptation there. We understand, that is the best for him now, not to take part in the next match." Santos said. (ESPN)
If without Ronaldo, Santos would depend on a duet of two young attackers Andre Silva and Goncalo Guedes on the front lines. Of course, Santos must really optimize his entire team, because Croatia is not an ordinary team. In Russia's 2018 World Cup, Croatia made it to the final. While Portugal beat Uruguay in the last 16.
After the 2018 World Cup, two main players from the Croatian national team reportedly retired. Goalkeeper Danijel Subasic and Mario striker. Both retire after the match. But to strengthen the defense of coach Zlatko Dalic, both team captains and deputy captain teams are named after Modric and Ivan perisic. Although there are problems that have been strengthened, after the world cup they also retired from the national team.
In this Portugal v Croatia match, Modric who has won the world cup best player award and UEFA's best player 207/2018 will lead his team. Meanwhile, Rakitic, if this game has to be played then it is the 100th international appearance with the national team.
Match history in recent years
CATE
Portugal: Beto, Claudio Ramos, Rui Patricio, Joao Cancelo, Ruben Dias, Raphael Guerreiro, Pedro Mendes, Luis Neto, Pepe, Mario Rui, Cedric Soares; William Carvalho, Bruno Fernandes, Gedson Fernandes, Ruben Neves, Sergio Oliveira, Pizzi, Renato Sanches, Bruma, Goncalo Guedes, Rony Lopes, Gelson Martins, Andre Silva, Bernardo Silva. Coach: Fernando Santos.
Croatia: Lovre Kalinic, Dominik Livakovic, Karlo Letica; Domagoj Vida, Dejan Lovren, Sime Vrsaljko, Josip Pivaric, Tin Jedvaj, Matej Mitrovic, Borna Barisic, Antonio Milic, Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic, Mateo Kovasic, Milan Badelj, Marcelo Brozovic, Filip Bradaric, Marko Rog, Mario Pasalic; Ivan Perisic, Andrej Kramaric, Marko Pjaca, Ante Rebic, Ivan Santini, Marko Livaja. Coach: Zlatko Dalic.
Portugal vs Croatia SCORE PREDICTION
In the last four matches against Croatia, Portugal have always won without ever conceding. Portugal's last meeting beat Croatia 1-0 in the last 16 of EURO 2016. Ricardo Quaresma managed to break Portugal's goal in extra time.
But Croatia is now known to be stronger than before. This is a moment to improve their squad against Portugal.
In nine of the 11 competitive matches, Portugal always ignores 3 goals or more. Portugal has the capacity for attackers to score. But Croatia has a midfield that can control the ball, dictate and build attacks in various ways. For this match Croatia is more deserved to be seeded with a score of 1-2.
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