Croatia 2-1 Denmark
Croatia went top of UEFA Nations League Group A1 on Thursday night, thanks to a hard fought victory over Denmark in Maksimir.
Borna Sosa struck a beauty from outside the box to give Croatia the lead early in the second half, and that goal looked like it would be enough to win the game but, in a frantic two minutes, Christian Eriksen levelled for Denmark before Lovro Majer won the game for Croatia.
The Danes were looking for revenge following their defeat at the hands of Croatia in June but before a ball was kicked the UEFA Nations League 2022 betting odds made the Croats favourites to win the group. To have a good chance of achieving that they pretty much had to pick up four points from their last two games and now Zlatco Dalic’s team is in the box seat.
Highlights of the game
This was a battle for Group A1 supremacy and the hosts, backed by a passionate crowd, came out all guns blazing and determined to put their mark on the fixture. As early as the first minute Croatia were a whisker away from scoring when Josip Sutalo met a corner from Borna Sosa and thundered his header inches wide of the right hand post. A couple of minutes later Marcelo Brozovic combined with Mario Palisic before firing high and wide.
Chelsea midfielder Mateo Kovacic was the next to have a crack, but his shot from distance also flew wide. Denmark’s first attempt came on 23 minutes when Martin Braithwaite fed Daniel Wass and he hit his shot sweetly but just over the bar. Croatia continued to find space at corners and when Kovacic swung one in Josko Gvardial won the header but he too was wide.
For all Croatia’s early pressure they didn’t trouble Kasper Schmeichel in the first half while, as Denmark worked their way into the game, Dominik Livakovic made two good saves to keep the scores level. Thomas Delaney crossed for Joakim Maehle and his close range shot was saved in the bottom corner and then Livakovic was alert to stop Christian Eriksen’s effort from distance.
It was 0-0 at the half time break but not for long, as Croatia came out firing at the start of the second period and they got their reward, on 49 minutes, when Bosa picked up the ball outside the penalty area and arrowed his shot low into the bottom left corner of Schmeichel’s net.
This was the Stuttgart wing back’s first goal for his country and it was certainly one to relish.
Croatia went in search of a second goal and Luka Modric passed to Ivan Perisic, but the Tottenham man’s shot whistled narrowly wide. And the two Croatia legends combined again as Perisic found Modric in space and his shot was brilliantly saved by Schmeichel low to his right.
Then in two minutes of electric action the game swung back and forth to give Croatia a thrilling victory. On 77 minutes it looked like Eriksen had got Denmark the point they needed when he unleashed a brilliant drive into the top left corner to level the scores.
Two minutes after holding their heads in their hands the Croats were celebrating again. Rennes midfielder Majer picked up a ball from Mislav Orsic and fired his low shot into the bottom right corner and beyond the reach of Schmeichel.
Denmark threw everything at it and Maehle had a shot blocked before Eriksen saw another effort saved but Croatia held out to complete a famous double.
Key statistics
Denmark came into the game top of Group A1 with Croatia in hot pursuit and, at SBOTOP odds of 2.41, the hosts deserved their win.
In the first half both sides kept the ball well with over 90 per cent pass completion and while Croatia had more attempts on goal with five to three, Denmark had the only two efforts on target, late in the half. By the end of the game Croatia had won the shot count by 12 to seven while both teams had four on target.
What’s next?
In tonight’s other UEFA Nations League 2022 news; in the other Group A1 fixture France finally got a win with a 2-0 victory over Austria; and there was a big game in Warsaw where the Netherlands beat Poland 2-0 to stay top of Group A4
Tomorrow night there’s a huge match Italy where the Azzurri welcome England and can dump the Three Lions into League 2 if they win.
Next up, Croatia ravel to Austria on Sunday in another game they will believe they can win, while Denmark face France in their last game of the group. And that’s a fixture we’ll see in November at the World Cup where Les Blues and the Danes will both expect to navigate their way through Group D, with Tunisia and Australia also in the group.
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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