September 10, 2019 - The Croatia national team has three remaining Euro 2020 qualifiers this fall.
HRT reports that the unexpected result against Azerbaijan spoiled Croatia's excellent performance against Slovakia last Friday, and made the path to qualifying for the European Championship next summer a bit more difficult. However, the World Cup finalists still decide their destiny.
There are still three more rounds in the qualifications and two wins should surely secure the Euros for Croatia. However, in the event Croatia falls short, there is always Plan B - the Nations League playoffs.
The most important thing for Croatia is that they remain at the top of the group once the qualifiers finish. Croatia currently has 10 points, which is one more than Slovakia and Hungary and four more than Wales, while Azerbaijan is in the last place with one point after Monday's draw.
The two best teams in the group will go directly to the Euro, and ahead of the last 270 minutes, Croatia tops the table in first.
Zlatko Dalic's squad will play two of their remaining three games at home with the direct competitors for one of the first two spots in the group - on October 10 in Split against Hungary and November 16 in Rijeka against Slovakia. Between the two games, Croatia will play Wales away on October 13.
On several occasions during the qualifications, coach Dalic said that it would take 15 points to qualify. Given the current situation, ending the group with 15 points would mean that Croatia will have one win and two draws in the matches to come - and such results may or may not be sufficient.
Victories against Hungary and Wales would certainly secure the Euros, though there is always the chance that Croatia does not end up among the two best teams in the group.
Croatia could, however, qualify for Euro via the Nations League playoffs. Namely, from each of the four Nations League paths, one national team will be eligible for the European Championship. There will be four national teams in each playoff path for those who failed to qualify for the Euro through qualifications.
“Each league will have its own play-off path if at least four teams have not already qualified in the conventional qualifying group stage. The Nations League group winners will automatically qualify for the play-off path of their league. If a group winner has already qualified through the qualifying group stage, they will be replaced by the next best-ranked team in the same league. However, if there are not enough non-qualified teams in the same league, then the spot will go to the next best team in the overall ranking. However, group winners cannot face teams from a higher league,” explains UEFA.
“Each play-off path will feature two single-leg semi-finals and one single-leg final. The best-ranked team will host the fourth-ranked team, and the second-ranked team will host the third-ranked team. The host of the final will be decided by a draw, with semi-final winner 1 or 2 hosting the final. The four play-off path winners will join the 20 teams which have already qualified for UEFA Euro 2020,” UEFA adds.
Remaining Euro 2020 Qualifiers in Group E:
10 October
Croatia - Hungary
Slovakia - Wales
13 October
Wales - Croatia
Hungary - Azerbaijan
16 November
Azerbaijan - Wales
Croatia - Slovakia
19 November
Slovakia - Azerbaijan
Wales - Hungary
To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.
