Croatia and Denmark will play in the round of 16 on Sunday at 20:00.
Many of us following the World Cup might include Croatia in our small circle of favorites to win the tournament. The Croatia national team, known as the “dark horse" of the tournament, now stands next to the likes of Brazil, Spain, and France - especially after Germany was eliminated from the group stage, reports Index.hr on June 30, 2018.
Ahead of the round of 16, where Croatia will play Denmark on Sunday at 20:00, British daily newspaper The Guardian selected the 11 best players of the World Cup so far with the help of journalists and readers.
In goal is Iran’s Alireza Beiranvand, and in front of him in the defense are Manuel Akanji (Switzerland), Diego Godin (Uruguay) and Andreas Granqvist (Sweden).
In the midfield, however, are two Croatian players - Luka Modrić and Ivan Rakitić - with Aleksandar Golovin and Kieran Trippier on the wings and Isco in the attacking midfield position. The attack is led by Harry Kane and Romelu Lukaku.
“Where to start? Probably with Croatia. The coach, Zlatko Dalic, has arguably the most talented group of midfielders in Russia with Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic both making our team. The La Liga duo have been instrumental in Croatia’s impressive performances against Nigeria, Argentina and Iceland and it will be fascinating to see how far they can go. A third member of the Croatia midfield, the irrepressible Ivan Perisic, just misses out on our XI,” writes The Guardian.
Just yesterday, Ivan Rakitić held a press conference before Croatia’s final training session at their World Cup camp before heading to Nizhny Novgorod.
"I do not know if this is the last major competition of this generation. We are going on a positive path, we have the atmosphere. It is up to us to continue playing as we have until now and to enjoy this moment. When we raise that cup, I think we can all retire, no problem,” Rakitić said.
"The pressure is always there, but since we got together in Zagreb, I’ve said the same thing - we have to enjoy it because the World Cup is the most beautiful competition in the world. We have tremendous support from Croatians from all over the world, and we need to have a good grasp of it. This is a fantastic opportunity to do serious things together. We want, if possible, that we all celebrate and are happy in the end.”
