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Croatia vs Greece Prediction & Betting tips
In the coming days, the last places for the World Cup in Russia 2018 will be played. Among other things, Croatia and Greece meet. In the first leg of this duel, the Greeks must travel to Zagreb and meet there in the venerable Maksimir Stadium on the Croats. The Greek national team has a very heated atmosphere in the 35,000-seat stadium. To the well-known euphoric fans from Croatia is added that in the two playoff games no away fans are allowed. This ban is the result of violent incidents of the fans in recent years. 2011 came during the European Championship qualifier in Greece to heavy riots of supporters. The main reason that such riots occurred is the close friendship between Greek and Serb fan groups.
The last direct duels between these two national teams were in the European Championship qualifiers for Poland and Ukraine in 2010 and 2011. It was Greece in the home game with a 2-0 prevailed and Croatia ended the duel 0-0.
Croatia :
Croatia was in Group I qualifying for the World Cup as the clear favorite for the victory. Nevertheless, the Croatian national team has to take the detour to the playoffs as a group runner-up. This was due to very poor performance in the last few games, thanks to which the sensational Iceland passed the favorite and secured the place in the sun. Croatia lost on the final match against Pleiten against group winners Iceland and Turkey, as well as a disappointing 1-1 draw against outsider Finland. Also, the participation in the playoff wobbled and was fixed only with a 2-0 victory on the final day against Ukraine.
As a result of these miserable results had coach Ante Cacic after the draw with Finland vacate the place and Zlatko Dalic was installed instead. The new coach played the crucial game against Ukraine and saved the Croatian “football heart” from the Super Gau. With Zlatko Dalic, the leaders hope to kick Greece out of the competition and qualify for Russia.
Although the Croatian national team have extremely strong offensive players in their own ranks, there have been major problems in the final rounds in recent games. In the last eight matches (including friendly matches) the Croats were only able to score seven goals – for stars like Mandzukic, Modric and Co., of course, too little. To achieve more goals again, Dalic nominated Andrej Kramaric from Hoffenheim and Ante Rebic from Frankfurt, who are supposed to bring more speed into the offensive game after a long absence from the team.
Greece:
The Greek national team took second place in Group H behind Belgium and now have the opportunity to qualify for Russia. Under German coach Michael Skibbe, the Greeks had to defeat in ten qualifying matches only once and this against the top favorites Belgium with 1: 2. Elsewhere, the team took with five wins and four draws 19 points and positioned ahead of Bosnia in second place.
The style of the team under Michael Skibbe can almost be described as “typical Greek” and remind of glory days under Otto Rehagel. The main focus is on a bomb-proof defense. Gates are increasingly being achieved from counterattacks and standards. With only six out of ten games, Greece have one of the best defensive lines of all European nations.
Skibbe must renounce in the coming game on a very important player. Central defender Konstantinos Manolas of AS Roma was suspended for the first leg in Zagreb. Manolas forced a yellow card in the penultimate group game against Cyprus due to time-playing to be absent for the final qualifier against Gibraltar and then in the playoffs again ready to use and be released from the yellow cards. This approach was anticipated by UEFA and thus the player was subsequently banned. In the second leg Manolas will be allowed to play again.
Croatia vs Greece head to head matches
07.10.11 EUR Greece Croatia 2 : 0
07.09.10 EUR Croatia Greece 0 : 0
24.04.01 FI Croatia Greece 2 : 2
09.03.99 FI Greece Croatia 3 : 2
29.04.97 WC Greece Croatia 0 : 1