Croatia and Russia battle it out for the automatic qualification spot for the World Cup in Qatar next year in Group H. The home team needs all three points from the fixture to confirm their spot on top while Russia only needs to avoid defeat to prevent moving into the playoffs.
CRO vs RUS Match Details :
When: November 14
Timings: 15:00 (CET)/19:30 (IST)
Where: Stadion Polijud, Split
CRO vs RUS Match Preview :
Both sides enjoy dismantling their opposition in the penultimate game of the European qualifiers. Croatia dispatched Malta easily with a 7-1 scoreline inspired by Andrej Kramaric's performance consisting of two assists and a goal. Despite starting the qualifiers with a loss to Slovenia, Zlatko Dalic's men have picked up six wins from the following eight games and kept clean sheets in seven of those. Their scoring record have been equally good with 20 goals to their name. Croatia are poised to bring one more dish to the table to nail their destiny in the final matchday. They face the only other opposition in the group capable of restricting them to halt their proceedings. It is the last edition's host, Russia. Dalic's men need a win to book their tickets to Qatar otherwise they had to wait until next year to decide their faith on playoffs in March.
Russia leads the Group H table currently with a two-point gap over Croatia, so, they need to avoid defeat at all costs to stay at the top. They did so in the reverse fixture in the qualifiers proving themselves to be a well-drilled competitor. Valerin Karepin's men weren't spectacular in the Euros, finishing bottom of their group, but they have been so in the World Cup qualifiers. Their defensive record has been ecstatic, letting in only five goals and only once in the last six. Adding 19 goals scored to that record makes them worthy of being in the first place. Now, they have one last severe test to undertake. Russia can't afford to slip off at this stage of qualification knowing they have to do less than Croatia in the game to seal a direct berth to the group stage of the main event in 2022. Otherwise, the hard path of the dreaded playoffs is only another path to advancement.
Recent Form :
Croatia: WDWWW
Russia: WWWWW
CRO vs RUS Team News :
Croatia have no injury concerns to deal with heading into this crucial game. Manager Zlatko Dalic is expected to not making any changes to the starting eleven from the win against Malta meaning Dejan Lovren, Domagoj Vida & Nikola Vlasic stays on the bench.
Same goes for Valerin Karpin. His side Russia is set to field an unchanged team that routed Cyprus on Thursday. Georgiy Dzhikiya and Rifat Zhemaletdinov remain the two absentees from this clash with the former replaced by Igor Diveev at the back.
CRO vs RUS Predicted Lineups :
Croatia: Ivo Grbic; Josip Juranovic, Caleta-Car, Josko Gvardiol, Borna Sosa, Luka Modric, Marcelo Brozovic, Mario Pasalic, Lovra Majer, Andrej Kramaric, Ivan Perisic
Russia: Matvey Safonov; Alexsei Sutormin, Igor Diveev, Maksim Osipenko, Sergey Terekhov, Aleksandr Yerokhin, Daniil Fomin, Aleksandr Golovin, Aleksey Miranchuk, Fedor Smolov, Andrey Mostovov
CRO vs RUS Head to Head :
The Blazers haven't lost to Russia in the five meetings so far between them. The Russians have managed to draw three of those games with the latest being a 0-0 stalemate in these qualifiers in September. Croatia also broke Russian hearts when they hosted the World Cup in 2018, eliminating them from the quarterfinal stage through penalties.
GK: Safonov (RUS)
DEF: Juranovic (CRO), Diveev (RUS), Gvardiol (CRO), Sosa (CRO)
MID: A. Miranchuk (RUS), Modric (CRO), Pasalic (CRO)
FW: Kramaric (CRO), Smolov (RUS), Perisic (CRO)
Match Prediction: Croatia 2-1 Russia
In this do-or-die clash for automatic qualification for the World Cup, anything is possible. It can be as cautious as it can be or will go into complete chaos. It's the best of attacks from Croatia going against the resilient Russians and we believe that attack will prevail. The Croats with their experience of such high profile game will easily end up in their wished destination while Russia forced to do the same through playoffs.
