Croatia VS Denmark Match Prediction
2018-07-01
18:00:00
Croatia
VS
Denmark
Our Prediction Tip
Croatia will win this match.
2018-07-0118:00:00 Croatia will win this match.
Croatia and Denmark met each other four times between 1996 and 1999, with Denmark winning two and drawing one, but they have not met since Croatia won 2-1 in a friendly in 2004. At major tournaments, their only previous meeting was Croatia’s 3-0 win in the group stages at Euro ’96.
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Croatia have won five of their last six matches, including four in a row
Denmark are unbeaten in their last 17 full international matches
Croatia have only ever lost once match against a fellow European team at the World Cup – hosts France back in 1998
Denmark have kept six clean sheets in their past seven matches.
Croatia were in excellent form in the group stages, emerging as potential dark horses for the World Cup thanks to their excellent performances in seeing off Nigeria and Argentina in their first two matches.
Maintaining their momentum with a win in the final match was important too – Denmark can not say the same thing after a drab 0-0 draw with France earned them their last-16 spot.
While keeping yet another clean sheet – their sixth in seven matches – they showed none of the attacking flair they will need to beat the Croatians.
Croatia have already shut out and totally outplayed Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero and co at Argentina, and Christian Eriksen will face a difficult night if he wants to maintain his recent goalscoring record.
Denmark’s biggest strength has been their defence, but with Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic pulling the strings, and Ivan Perisic, Mario Mandzukic and Ante Rebic in front of them, Croatia have plenty of attacking strength.
This Croatian team is packed with experience and their La Liga and Serie A-based stars all look to have peaked at the same time if their performances of late are anything to go by.
Zlatko Dalic has undoubtedly got the best out of them, after they struggled in qualifying, but they now look one of the teams to beat – and Denmark – who have scored just five goals in their last eight games – simply do not seem to have the firepower to overcome the Croatians.
Croatia are odds-on favourites to beat Denmark at 10/11 with Betfair, Betway and 10Bet. That’s a generous price considering their excellent form so far.
In fairness to Denmark’s excellent defence, however, there should not be many goals in Sunday’s last-16 game. Under 2.5 goals will return 1/2 with Betfair and Betway. A Croatia win and under 2.5 goals is 9/4 with Ladbrokes and Betway.
Denmark have lacked attacking prowess – Christian Eriksen aside – however, and a Croatia win to nil is 13/8 with Bet365 and Ladbrokes. You can also bet against both teams to score at 3/5 with Betfair and Betway. A Croatia clean sheet is 19/20 with Ladbrokes and Betway, meanwhile.
Only one Croatian – Davor Suker, who won the Golden Boot at France ’98 – has scored three or more goals at a single World Cup, but Luka Modric needs just one more to become the second. He is 4/1 with Bet365 and 10Bet to do just that.
1) Croatia to win at 10/11 with Betfair
2) Total goals = under 2.5 at 1/2 with Betway
3) Croatia to keep a clean sheet at 19/20 with Ladbrokes
Croatia were in excellent form in the group stages, while Denmark appeared below-par at times. Their excellent defensive record proves they will be tough to crack, but Croatia can do exactly that with attacking strength in abundance.
Croatia took advantage of their great start to the tournament to rest players against Iceland, with only Luka Modric and Ivan Perisic retaining their starting places from the defeat of Argentina. They are likely to revert the team that beat Argentina for their round-of-16 clash with Denmark, though Milan Badelj could start after a goal and an assist against Iceland.
Luka Modric (central midfielder) – Two goals in the first two games proved his class after arriving at the World Cup on the back of yet another Champions League win.
Ivan Rakitic (central midfielder) – Modric’s rival at club level, but the Barcelona midfielder stars alongside him for their country in a brilliant midfield axis.
Ivan Perisic (winger) – Scored the winner last time out, having scored 11 Serie A goals and bagged nine assists last season with Inter.
Croatia 2-0 Nigeria
Croatia 3-0 Argentina
Croatia 2-1 Iceland
Croatia glided into the last-16 with a perfect record from their three group stage matches, the stand-out result of which was the thrashing of Argentina. They had earlier kicked off with a 2-0 win against below-par Nigeria before putting Argentina to the sword. Ante Rebic pounced on Willy Caballero’s howler, Luka Modric curled in a second and Ivan Rakitic sealed victory late on. Finally, with players rested against Iceland, Croatia had Milan Badelj’s opener cancelled out by a penalty before Ivan Perisic sealed victory – and maintained the perfect record – in the final minute.
Croatia team have won five of their last six matches, including four in a row. The only team to have got the better of them in that time was Brazil, who won 2-0 at Anfield in a friendly. They have since come from behind to beat Senegal in their final friendly and then won all three group stage matches – Ivan Perisic maintaining the 100 per cent record with a late winner against Iceland last time out.
Yussuf Poulsen is back from suspension to play against Croatia after sitting out the bore draw with France at the end of the group stage. Mathias Jorgensen, Andreas Cornelius and Martin Braithwaite all started that game, with a new 4-1-4-1 system adopted, but Andreas Christensen is likely to drop back into centre-back and Poulsen, Lasse Schone and Nicolai Jorgensen start return to the starting line-up.
Christian Eriksen (attacking midfielder) – Scored Denmark’s goal against Australia and has an incredible 17 in his last 21 internationals. He had previously scored six in 60 appearances.
Yussuf Poulsen (winger) – Back in action after missing the final group game – he scored the winner in Denmark’s first match.
Simon Kjaer (defender) – The Sevilla captain and Denmark centre-back has been at the heart of Denmark’s brilliant recent defensive record.
Denmark 1-0 Peru
Denmark 1-1 Australia
Denmark 0-0 France
Yussuf Poulsen scored the winner as Denmark beat Peru to kick-off the 2018 World Cup with a crucial three points, before draws with Australia and France followed. Christian Eriksen scored against Australia before a penalty pegged them back – and ended a run of five consecutive clean sheets. A bore draw with France in the final group game confirmed their progress to the last-16.
Denmark team are unbeaten in their last 17 full international matches, having come through the group stage with a win and two draws. The goalless draw with France was their sixth clean sheet in seven matches – a sequence that also includes 0-0s with Chile and Sweden ahead of the tournament. Denmark won their final warm-up game 2-0 against Mexico and their goalscorers, Yussuf Poulsen and Christian Eriksen, have since gone on to score at Russia 2018.
Emerging dark horses for the World Cup Croatia took Group D by storm, winning all three matches to top the group and set-up a last-16 tie with Group D runners-up Denmark. The Danes are also unbeaten so far at Russia 2018, but scored just two goals as they finished with one win and two draws. The two now meet in Nizhny Novgorod with a quarter-final against either Spain or Russia awaiting the winner. The match kicks off at 9pm local time on Sunday July 1.
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