⚽ UEFA Nations League final four ⚽

[Daniel91]

Livaja is to blame for the fact that some fans criticize him, because if you want to celebrate your victories in a way that insults others, then be prepared that others will return it in the same or similar way. Given that this is not his first time and that he has already been punished for the same things, I think that his club should perhaps take some steps in terms of counseling regarding self-control.

Croatia definitely has problems with attackers, but Livaja is not irreplaceable, so this should not be seen as something that should affect the players and their game. What I would personally do if I were a coach is to close all training sessions to the public, and apparently none of the staff thought about that before the incident.

I agree, no one is irreplaceable, but Croatia is the weakest in the forward position, and since Mandjukic left, we don't have a real attacker.
The problem is that Livaja was not dropped because of an injury, but by his own decision, so the coach has no right to look for a new player for that position.
As things currently stand, Kramarić will once again be our main option for attack and we will have to hope that he does not drop out due to injury or other reasons.
In any case, unnecessary problems for Croatia before this tournament.

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[BitcoinAccepted]

Next week we will continue with the Nations League, which is of course still a prestigious prize for many teams. All matches are played in the Netherlands, which gives the Netherlands a big advantage in all matches. The Netherlands - Croatia will be a match that I think is about 50-50, but Croatia is missing a strong Croatian defender who managed to play a great World Cup in Qatar. The question is how good Modric and de Jong are, they meet each other a few times every season when Madrid and Barcelona face each other. Italy - Spain is also a coin flip with no clear favourite.

[Lucius]

The Netherlands - Croatia will be a match that I think is about 50-50, but Croatia is missing a strong Croatian defender who managed to play a great World Cup in Qatar.

Unfortunately, Croatia will have to play without Josko Gvardiol, who failed to heal the injury despite all efforts. His place will be filled by Martin Erlic, who at this point seems to be the only logical choice.

This is definitely bad news for Croatia because the defense will lose perhaps its most important player with the absence of Gvardiol.

[rdluffy]

The Netherlands - Croatia will be a match that I think is about 50-50, but Croatia is missing a strong Croatian defender who managed to play a great World Cup in Qatar.

Unfortunately, Croatia will have to play without Josko Gvardiol, who failed to heal the injury despite all efforts. His place will be filled by Martin Erlic, who at this point seems to be the only logical choice.

This is definitely bad news for Croatia because the defense will lose perhaps its most important player with the absence of Gvardiol.

I just heard, it's bad news for the Croatian team. Gvardiol is a great player, and even Man. City will probably sign him.
He has already played more important matches and is more used to this type of match than Erlić

On the Netherlands side, it seems that Matthijs de Ligt will not play and the reason is the same: injury. I think they called Daley Blind in his place, but I don't know if he will be the starter.

But the bookmaker odds remain the same, 2.02 for Netherlands and 3.70 for Croatia
Approximately 47% odds for Netherlands, 27% draw and 26% for Croatia

I'm still betting on Croatia anyway, and I think this match has good chances of extra time 

[Daniel91]

The Netherlands - Croatia will be a match that I think is about 50-50, but Croatia is missing a strong Croatian defender who managed to play a great World Cup in Qatar.

Unfortunately, Croatia will have to play without Josko Gvardiol, who failed to heal the injury despite all efforts. His place will be filled by Martin Erlic, who at this point seems to be the only logical choice.

This is definitely bad news for Croatia because the defense will lose perhaps its most important player with the absence of Gvardiol.

I just heard, it's bad news for the Croatian team. Gvardiol is a great player, and even Man. City will probably sign him.
He has already played more important matches and is more used to this type of match than Erlić

On the Netherlands side, it seems that Matthijs de Ligt will not play and the reason is the same: injury. I think they called Daley Blind in his place, but I don't know if he will be the starter.

But the bookmaker odds remain the same, 2.02 for Netherlands and 3.70 for Croatia
Approximately 47% odds for Netherlands, 27% draw and 26% for Croatia

I'm still betting on Croatia anyway, and I think this match has good chances of extra time 

I agree, Croatia lost a very important player in defense, but the Netherlands also lost an important player.
At the last 2 world cups, Croatia was very good and won 2 medals, silver and bronze, and now Croatian players announce that they want to finally win a trophy and get a gold medal.
There is certainly a chance for that, but it will be very difficult. The problem is that another key player of Croatia, Brozović, will come to this tournament very tired after the Champions League final.
I think that this tournament will be very even and uncertain and that all 4 national teams have a chance to win the trophy. Croatia already traditionally wins after extra time and penalties, so I predict the same outcome after the match with the Netherlands.

[Lucius]

~snip~
I'm still betting on Croatia anyway, and I think this match has good chances of extra time 

It's hard to get away from the impression that Croatia will play again in a way that they will try to go in extra time or even take penalty kicks, but it is much safer for me to bet that both teams will score, and that there will be at least 3 goals in the game. That offer is paid around 2.55 at my local bookmaker.

According to announcements coming from the Croatian team, head coach Dalic is preparing an offensive line-up that should include Luka Ivanusec (Dinamo ZG), and it is mentioned that Domagoj Vida could play instead of Erlic, although I hope that he will not play from the beginning. Vida is a real lion, but the years have done their thing and he's not as fast as he used to be.

Possible line-up of Croatia :

Code:

Livaković - Juranović (Stanišić), Vida, Šutalo, Perišić - Modrić, Brozović, Kovačić - Pašalić, Kramarić, Ivanušec.

[Juggy777]

The Netherlands - Croatia will be a match that I think is about 50-50, but Croatia is missing a strong Croatian defender who managed to play a great World Cup in Qatar.

Unfortunately, Croatia will have to play without Josko Gvardiol, who failed to heal the injury despite all efforts. His place will be filled by Martin Erlic, who at this point seems to be the only logical choice.

This is definitely bad news for Croatia because the defense will lose perhaps its most important player with the absence of Gvardiol.

I just heard, it's bad news for the Croatian team. Gvardiol is a great player, and even Man. City will probably sign him.
He has already played more important matches and is more used to this type of match than Erlić

On the Netherlands side, it seems that Matthijs de Ligt will not play and the reason is the same: injury. I think they called Daley Blind in his place, but I don't know if he will be the starter.

But the bookmaker odds remain the same, 2.02 for Netherlands and 3.70 for Croatia
Approximately 47% odds for Netherlands, 27% draw and 26% for Croatia

I'm still betting on Croatia anyway, and I think this match has good chances of extra time 

I agree, Croatia lost a very important player in defense, but the Netherlands also lost an important player.
At the last 2 world cups, Croatia was very good and won 2 medals, silver and bronze, and now Croatian players announce that they want to finally win a trophy and get a gold medal.
There is certainly a chance for that, but it will be very difficult. The problem is that another key player of Croatia, Brozović, will come to this tournament very tired after the Champions League final.
I think that this tournament will be very even and uncertain and that all 4 national teams have a chance to win the trophy. Croatia already traditionally wins after extra time and penalties, so I predict the same outcome after the match with the Netherlands.

@Daniel91 I too have a very strong gut feeling which says that Croatia will win because the player’s will be extra motivated to win it for Luka and bid him a proper goodbye. Furthermore Netherland is no longer coached by Van Gaal and I believe that the player’s will miss his charismatic approach plus I don’t think that Roland can inspire these player’s like Van Gaal used to do hence I’m backing Croatia for a victory.

[Litzki1990]

Next week we will continue with the Nations League, which is of course still a prestigious prize for many teams. All matches are played in the Netherlands, which gives the Netherlands a big advantage in all matches. The Netherlands - Croatia will be a match that I think is about 50-50, but Croatia is missing a strong Croatian defender who managed to play a great World Cup in Qatar. The question is how good Modric and de Jong are, they meet each other a few times every season when Madrid and Barcelona face each other. Italy - Spain is also a coin flip with no clear favourite.

One of the most reliable names in Croatia's defense is Josko Gvardiol. His injury absence against the Netherlands is a huge bummer as we saw him hold up Croatia's defense at the World Cup in Qatar. But we have to accept the reality that he is going to miss the match against Netherlands. 

Croatia will have to plan with whoever is selected as his replacement. It's fine to put the two teams on equal footing but Croatia may be a bit behind due to Josko Gvardiol's absence and Luka Modric's poor performances recently. But the game will be very difficult for both teams.

[slaman29]

Nice to see a thread from BSFL regular, I came here to look for insights for the Round 2 contest lol

I am backing Spain, as always, but I see sportsbook odds have them as the lowest odds to win the title, and that's probably because they must first meet Italy in the harder semifinal.

Which makes them great odds to bet on, right?

[Bitcoin_people]

Netherlands vs Croatia I think it will be a tough match between the two teams. Both the teams are strong enough but it is a pity that the Croatia defender who was in good form in the World Cup in Qatar will not be able to play in the match. There's no telling how well Luka Modric can perform. However, we have seen that Modric did not perform very well this season while playing for Real Madrid. However, the Netherlands will try to win the match. They are currently number 6th in the FIFA ranking and Croatia is number 7th. It is difficult to say for sure which team will win the UEFA Nations League final, but the team that can attack well on the field will win.

[tusandii]

Netherlands vs Croatia I think it will be a tough match between the two teams. Both the teams are strong enough but it is a pity that the Croatia defender who was in good form in the World Cup in Qatar will not be able to play in the match. There's no telling how well Luka Modric can perform. However, we have seen that Modric did not perform very well this season while playing for Real Madrid. However, the Netherlands will try to win the match. They are currently number 6th in the FIFA ranking and Croatia is number 7th. It is difficult to say for sure which team will win the UEFA Nations League final, but the team that can attack well on the field will win.

The Netherlands and Croatia are pretty good teams and at the Qatar World Cup they also performed pretty well even though they couldn't win the title.
But in their match I sided with the Netherlands to win the game this time.
For this season I don't trust Luka Modric's abilities because he can't play as well as he did a few seasons ago.
This is an opportunity for the Netherlands to get a win and proceed to the final round.

[harapan]

Personally I feel the nations league is a waste of time. It's just a way for Uefa to make more money. Time when the players should be resting, is time they spend playing lesser tournaments. Nobody takes the nations league serious. It's the clubs that suffer the most from these tournaments because it's their players that end of injured and fatigued. I also feel it will be cancelled sooner than expected. It's not the first time we've seen stuff like this happen.

Anyways, I'm going to bet on Croatia to win The Netherlands. Netherland have not been in rythem since the world cup and their new coach Koeman is not someone I trust, but they trust him so it's fine. Although Netherland have the advantage of playing on home soil, I still think Croatia will be winner of this tie.

According to the bookies, Spain are favorites to win against Italy and I agree. People believe Italy is a weak team because they couldn't qualify for the world cup, but I doubt that. Italy are very good team that even capable of winning the nations league. But I feel Spain will win it.

[rdluffy]

...but it is much safer for me to bet that both teams will score, and that there will be at least 3 goals in the game. That offer is paid around 2.55 at my local bookmaker.

I have some doubts about 3 goals. It's hard to predict because there's no sequence of matches to make a better guess about how any team is playing at the moment.
It's possible to have a 2 x 1, with 2.55 maybe it's worth the risk

According to announcements coming from the Croatian team, head coach Dalic is preparing an offensive line-up that should include Luka Ivanusec (Dinamo ZG), and it is mentioned that Domagoj Vida could play instead of Erlic, although I hope that he will not play from the beginning. Vida is a real lion, but the years have done their thing and he's not as fast as he used to be.

Possible line-up of Croatia :

Code:

Livaković - Juranović (Stanišić), Vida, Šutalo, Perišić - Modrić, Brozović, Kovačić - Pašalić, Kramarić, Ivanušec.

Which website do you check the news of the Croatian team?
In my opinion, the line-up is great, with no surprises and with players that are used to play with each other

Although the league's final round is not getting much attention in the news (and not here on the forum), I found that I will be able to watch the matches easily on my streaming service

I'm just unsure about my bet, between Croatia winning in regular time, 3.80 odds, or Croatia qualifying at 2.55 

[Distraction]

The Netherlands - Croatia match can end up really different than the bookmakers expect. Bookmakers are underestimating Croatia a little despite their look in the recent times. Croatia are a really solid defense team and they can be annoying against any kind of attacking-oriented teams. However Gvardiol's absence would weaken the defense at an important rate surely.

But still I don't think Croatia defense will be weak. They would stand tall and try their best to wear out Netherlands attackers. Netherlands are rather a much more attacking team you know so they will aim to have control of the match as much as possible. If Croatia do a good job about tightening the area their opponent play in then Netherlands can have really serious issues.

I think we will watch at least extra time and Croatia can really surprise the bookmakers.

[temple]

The Netherlands - Croatia match can end up really different than the bookmakers expect. Bookmakers are underestimating Croatia a little despite their look in the recent times. Croatia are a really solid defense team and they can be annoying against any kind of attacking-oriented teams. However Gvardiol's absence would weaken the defense at an important rate surely.

But still I don't think Croatia defense will be weak. They would stand tall and try their best to wear out Netherlands attackers. Netherlands are rather a much more attacking team you know so they will aim to have control of the match as much as possible. If Croatia do a good job about tightening the area their opponent play in then Netherlands can have really serious issues.

I think we will watch at least extra time and Croatia can really surprise the bookmakers.

I agree with this and the offense of the Netherlands doesn't look really that dangerous. They don't have one of those international top scorers in their team. That offense against Croatia's defense could end quite well for Croatia and they are definitely able to score a goal. I don't expect many goals in total for the game, but I think that Croatia will be successful at least once. They have a good chance to win that game. Though I think that it is still an even game as the Netherlands have been kicked out by Argentina at the World Cup and it was really close as well. With the home advantage this is about a 50:50 game instead of a big advantage for the Netherlands as the bookmakers believe. 

[karabiber]

The Netherlands brought in Ronald Koeman as the manager in January and lost to France with a different score in his first match with his new coach but defeated weak Gibraltar in his second match. It looks like they will need a little more time in the new period. Important names such as Vrij, Berghuis, Klaasen, Depay and Luuk de Jong, which we used to see in the squad in previous matches are not included in the squad due to injuries or leaving the national team but the Netherlands has the advantage of being the home team. I think the Netherlands will need time with Koeman in the current table.

Croatia which showed the success of being third in the World Cup, will come out of this match with morale and confidence.
Livaja left the national team in Croatia. Gvardiol, one of the most desired stopper of the last period is injured. Brozovic, who recently broke a sweat in the Champions League final is also uncertain. Although the visiting team has lost its sharpness, especially in attack it has shown in Qatar that it is still a very difficult team to be defeated with its strong team play. There are shortcomings in Croatia but i still think the squad is strong enough.

[Rruchi man]

Unfortunately, Croatia will have to play without Josko Gvardiol, who failed to heal the injury despite all efforts. His place will be filled by Martin Erlic, who at this point seems to be the only logical choice.

His absence alone gives Netherlands a big chance, but Croatia have a fantastic winning record coming to this game. Although it is another tournament, I watched very dissapointingly how Manchester city midfield dealt with Luka modric. I know this was possible because he is no longer as young as before. If Netherlands can be solid in midfield, they can have an edge to get to the finals.

I want Italy in the other game to win against Spain and get to the finals of the competition, so we can see if this year will be the year that Italian National team will loose out on a trophy as three of football clubs in the country (Italy) failed to win a trophy this season as well, despite getting to the finals.

[Lucius]

Which website do you check the news of the Croatian team?
In my opinion, the line-up is great, with no surprises and with players that are used to play with each other

I used one local source, and if you want to read today's article and you have no problem translating the article this is the source. Of course, the final line-up will be known only before the game, but in my opinion the only doubts are about the players who should replace Gvardiol, where suddenly there is talk of a veteran Vida who should get a chance instead of Erlic.

Of course, it's all part of the game before the game, so you shouldn't expect it to be just as it is presented by the media.

[Daniel91]

The Netherlands - Croatia will be a match that I think is about 50-50, but Croatia is missing a strong Croatian defender who managed to play a great World Cup in Qatar.

Unfortunately, Croatia will have to play without Josko Gvardiol, who failed to heal the injury despite all efforts. His place will be filled by Martin Erlic, who at this point seems to be the only logical choice.

This is definitely bad news for Croatia because the defense will lose perhaps its most important player with the absence of Gvardiol.

I just heard, it's bad news for the Croatian team. Gvardiol is a great player, and even Man. City will probably sign him.
He has already played more important matches and is more used to this type of match than Erlić

On the Netherlands side, it seems that Matthijs de Ligt will not play and the reason is the same: injury. I think they called Daley Blind in his place, but I don't know if he will be the starter.

But the bookmaker odds remain the same, 2.02 for Netherlands and 3.70 for Croatia
Approximately 47% odds for Netherlands, 27% draw and 26% for Croatia

I'm still betting on Croatia anyway, and I think this match has good chances of extra time 

I agree, Croatia lost a very important player in defense, but the Netherlands also lost an important player.
At the last 2 world cups, Croatia was very good and won 2 medals, silver and bronze, and now Croatian players announce that they want to finally win a trophy and get a gold medal.
There is certainly a chance for that, but it will be very difficult. The problem is that another key player of Croatia, Brozović, will come to this tournament very tired after the Champions League final.
I think that this tournament will be very even and uncertain and that all 4 national teams have a chance to win the trophy. Croatia already traditionally wins after extra time and penalties, so I predict the same outcome after the match with the Netherlands.

@Daniel91 I too have a very strong gut feeling which says that Croatia will win because the player’s will be extra motivated to win it for Luka and bid him a proper goodbye. Furthermore Netherland is no longer coached by Van Gaal and I believe that the player’s will miss his charismatic approach plus I don’t think that Roland can inspire these player’s like Van Gaal used to do hence I’m backing Croatia for a victory.

Thank you, I agree with your opinion.
In the last 5-6 years, Croatia has become a real tournament team that always plays very organized and good football in major competitions and very hard and rarely loses matches.
It's not pretty football to watch, but it's efficient football that brings results.
In all 4 of the last major competitions in which Croatia participated, Croatia reached the knockout phase of the competition and won a medal in almost all competitions, which speaks of the continuity of the game and the results.
Today, Croatia is a very difficult opponent for any team in the world, including the best teams in the world such as Brazil or France.
By winning away against France last year, Croatia qualified for the final tournament of the League of Nations and, in my opinion, has a good chance to win this tournament.

[giammangiato]

sorry if i speak my mind, with this loss croatia is much weaker than before
I agree with the others, it goes without saying that a single player does not make the team, if he is a champion it makes a lot of difference, both technically and morally