9 days to go: Team Croatia Loop Barbados

Black Immigrant Daily News

We are into single digits in our countdown to the opening day of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Nine days remain until home team Qatar contest Group A colleagues and South American representatives Ecuador at the Al Bayt Stadium in the city of Al Khor at 12 pm Eastern Caribbean time.

It is the first World Cup to be held in the Middle East region and many are anticipating the best edition ever.

Croatia is one of the 32 teams vying for the desirable world title and they came very close last time when they finished runners-up in Moscow, losing 4-2 to the French.

The Croatians will definitely be encouraged by this showing and further inspired by their captain and talisman Luka Modric who is likely to retire after this tournament.

The 37-year-old midfield magician was so instrumental to Croatia’s success four years ago that he earned FIFA’s Ballon d’or award.

Since earning their independence in 1991, Croatia’s progress in the football world has been incremental and quite impressive.

Their first tournament as an independent was in 1996 and they reached the quarterfinal stage of the UEFA European Championships. Two years later, they finished third at the World Cup, defeating Germany and the Netherlands on their passage.

They would go on to qualify the next two consecutive World Cup tournaments, did not qualify for 2010, but returned for 2014 and 2018.

An interesting fact about team Croatia is, they are either eliminated at the group stage or they go to the semifinals.

Let’s see what happens in Qatar.

Country: Croatia

Capital: Zagreb

Population: 3.89 million

Confederation: UEFA (Europe)

Group: F

Professional League: Hrvatska Nogometna Liga

World Cup appearances:6 (2022)

Qualification status: UEFA Group H winners

Key players: Luka Modric (Real Madrid, Spain), Ivan Perisic (Tottenham, England), Mateo Kovacic (Chelsea, England), Marcelo Brozovic (Inter Milan, Italy), Mario Pasulic (Atalanta, Italy)

Coach: Zlatko Dalic (Croatian)

Group mates: Morocco, Belgium, Canada

Predictions: Possible group winners or runners-up. Not as strong a team as in 2018, but share a similar gritty mindset, which can potentially get them to the last four of the competition.

NewsAmericasNow.com