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Game 3: Spain vs Croatia from the Olympiastadion Berlin LIVE on ITV1 5pm

Coulthard's Jaw
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What will be the result  

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  1. 1. What will be the result

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  • Poll closed on 15/06/24 at 15:59

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Coulthard's Jaw

Coulthard's Jaw

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Posted

euro_24_-_2_players_h2h_-_facebook_2_.jp

Possible line-ups

Spain: Simón: Carvajal, Le Normand, Nacho, Grimaldo; Merino, Rodri, Pedri; Lamine, Morata, Williams

Croatia: Livaković; Stanišić, Šutalo, Pongračić, Gvardiol; Modrić, Brozović, Kovačić; Majer, Budimir, Kramarić

These two played out a Euro classic in 2021

Spain, always contenders, but do they have the x factor to go all the way? Croatia, always seem to be there or thereabouts. You wouldn't want to face them in the knockouts...

Mark Pougatch presents, with analysis from Ian Wright, Roy Keane and Gary Neville, and commentary by

Seb-Hutchinson-009.jpg?v=1697634127

AND

MV5BYzgzOGRhNTgtNGUzYy00M2Y3LWI4YjItNjlj

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GunmaN1905

GunmaN1905

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Posted (edited)

Thanks for making the topic, CJ.

First heavyweight matchup of the tournament and the strongest group in the tournament, at least on paper.

A matchup that never happened in official games before 2012, but is going to happen for the 7th time in 12 years.
And it never disappoints. Other than that 6-0 Nations League battering. :D

image.png.c10169279a81c94d7c94294c51b432c6.png

EURO 2012:

Final game of the group stage, coincidentally Italy was also in it.
Great watch, Rakitić missing a sitter, then a blatant robbery. Penalty not called in 86th minute on Ćorluka after Busquets' blatant hold and throw him on the ground.
Then late winner for spain from questionable situation. Some say that was the game that made Real buy Modrić.

EURO 2016:

Final game again, group winner decider. Croatia rotated, Spain not that much.
Morata for the lead, backheel by Kalinić. Subašić saving Ramos' penalty while being like 3 meters off the line and Perišić's late winner, a bad howler from De Gea.

CJ posted the 2021 game, all-time classic.
Nations League final was dull as hell, but as per usual, Croatia couldn't get over the top and actually win something. Spain won on penalties.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkAeFrTrZ38

Both teams are going through a change of guard somewhat. Spain with really questionable group stage, but they look way better with fresh blood as of late.
De La Fuente without much experience in club football, got promoted through Spanish youth selections and is making many enemies.
He probably won't last without a quarter-final at the minimum.
There's been a lot of discussion about his choices.
He didn't take Cubarsi who's been great for Barcelona or Pau Torres who's an established NT CB and as it usually happens, Laporte got injured.
Nacho starts tomorrow, but it's ridiculous that left-footed CB like Pau Torres was left out.
Didn't take Lucas Vasquez, but took 38 year old Jesus Navas.
Left out Llorente who can play every possible position and had a great season for Atletico, brought midfielders of similar profile instead.
Rodri is obviously the key for the entire team, but anyone can start in other two positions. Pedri didn't have an amazing season, Olmo is also injured and Ruiz is the only other midfielder with experience on this stage.
The brightest part of the team as of late has been young duo on the wings, Williams and especially Yamal.
Their striker woes continue, Morata is now the captain and a sure starter.

Meanwhile everyone keeps waiting for Croatia's downfall and yet somehow new talent, tactical choices and players in form appear.
No more old-timers in the back line, with Gvardiol taking the role he has at City. Šutalo is a guaranteed starter despite his woes at Ajax, with Pongračić from Lecce getting the other CB spot ahead of Erlić from Sassuolo. Right-back dilemma is always interesting because of two players with completely different qualities, but as things stand right now, Stanišić should be the starter. Effectively making it Pep-like defense with four CBs, but with a lot of quality on the ball.
Starting midfield is the same, the only question mark is Brozović's lifestyle in combination with playing in Saudi league.
But there's never going to be any worry in midfield, with Baturina and Sučić emerging as new class midfield talents alongside known Pašalić and Vlašić who offer tactical diversity.
Perišić shouldn't be starting since he just recovered from ACL tear, instead formation has been switched to something of a 4321 with Kramarić and Majer behind the striker.
Both of them have supreme technical quality and movement, but are slow, as is tradition with Croatia. Majer's left foot allows diversity with set-pieces.
Budimir is a late-bloomer, unknown striker, who believe it or not, scored 17 goals in La Liga for Osasuna this season. Too bad he's about to turn 33.
Behind him is lazy maestro Petković.

Friendlies were really promising, especially a win in Portugal that should've been more convincing. Some of the best football Croatia player in a while.

Overall feeling is that Croatia has slight advantage due to second game being in Albania and four points being enough to qualify.
Would definitely be happier with a point than Spain.
Still, I don't expect Spain to rush it and we'll see the usual battle of technically supreme midfields.
Spain's biggest advantage is obviously pace on the wings, but full-backs suddenly turned into one of Croatia's biggest strengths. Yamal-Gvardiol is the matchup to watch.
An early goal could turn it into another classic. Let's hope it's not a repeat of Nations League finals, every other game between these two teams was great.

From the sentimental side, this is the first game at Olympiastadion since 2006 against Brazil. Will definitely be at least 70% Croatians in the stands.
Expect something like this:cool::

Bonus for quiz goers and NT tournament followers if they can name every player in that lineup. :D

Edited by GunmaN1905
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Mickybricks14

Mickybricks14

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56 minutes ago, GunmaN1905 said:

 

Bonus for quiz goers and NT tournament followers if they can name every player in that lineup. :D

???*, Ivan Klasnic, Robert kovac, Niko kranjcar, ???**, josip simunic, dario simic, Igor Tudor, dado prso, stipe pletikosa and Niko kovac

*Can't remember his name but he played for Bayern lb/cm

**No idea on this guy whatsoever though 

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GunmaN1905

GunmaN1905

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7 minutes ago, Mickybricks14 said:

???*, Ivan Klasnic, Robert kovac, Niko kranjcar, ???**, josip simunic, dario simic, Igor Tudor, dado prso, stipe pletikosa and Niko kovac

*Can't remember his name but he played for Bayern lb/cm

**No idea on this guy whatsoever though 

Great stuff.

Although * is kind of obvious. It's Darijo Srna.

The ** one is Marko Babić. LWB, most known for having 144 apps with Leverkusen, even played some minutes in CL final.

Lineups from the game, ah the nostaliga. And nepotism, due to manager's son playing ahead of Modrić. :D

Spoiler

image.png.e4026ff5905f9ec1e44a2de166589305.png


 

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kpain16

kpain16

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7 hours ago, GunmaN1905 said:

Great stuff.

Although * is kind of obvious. It's Darijo Srna.

The ** one is Marko Babić. LWB, most known for having 144 apps with Leverkusen, even played some minutes in CL final.

Lineups from the game, ah the nostaliga. And nepotism, due to manager's son playing ahead of Modrić. :D

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image.png.e4026ff5905f9ec1e44a2de166589305.png


 

Jesus... I totally forgot what a ridiculous team Brazil had there. Not all of them were in their prime but the names were iconic.

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Rob1981

Rob1981

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Score draw here and the game fizzles out before the end. If it’s 1-1 on 60 minutes, they probably both settle knowing they will still have Albania to play.

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The_jagster

The_jagster

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Posted
1 hour ago, RTHerringbone said:

I mean, I voted for Spain, but can't help feeling that OTF as a whole is wildly underestimating Croatia here.

Prepared to look stupid but despite making an effort to get back for this I remembered that Croatia just park the bus against the bigger nations.

Which they have every right to do, just don't think it will make for either a Croatia win or a decent match.

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CFuller

CFuller

Posted
Posted

So long as Pedri doesn't try any 50-yard back-passes, I think Spain will have a bit too much quality. 2-0 España.

Also, I'm taking bets on how long until the commentator mentions that Andrej Kramaric used to play for Leicester. I reckon 5 minutes. :D

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martinji

martinji

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Posted

Disappointing studio lineup for ITV - Neville, Keane and Wright.  Much prefer it when we get people from the nations that are playing, to add that bit of studio rivalry and they tend to have more relevant knowledge.  ITV seem to just be rotating from a small roster of established names.

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Rob1981

Rob1981

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Say what you like about Pougatch, but you can’t fault the work ethic. Back to back games for ITV. Just touch up the makeup, change the pundits and go again.

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GunmaN1905

GunmaN1905

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9 minutes ago, Nordan said:

Looking forward to this, I went with a draw again.

Nice to see you back, been a while. :thup:

 

12 minutes ago, craigcwwe said:

372 caps in the Croatian midfield three. :D 

I honestly think Gvardiol could get close to Modrić.
He's already got 30, just turned 22.
Modrić wasn't a regular feature before he turned 22.

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EnterUsernameHere

EnterUsernameHere

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Posted (edited)

Just getting my daily rant in here...I know why it happens but wish ITV would stop talking about England in the build up for a Spain Vs Croatia game ffs.

Who wants it? If you're tuning in for this game you surely aren't casual enough to want to hear only about the England team?

Edited by EnterUsernameHere
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Nordan

Nordan

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2 minutes ago, GunmaN1905 said:

Nice to see you back, been a while. :thup:

 

I honestly think Gvardiol could get close to Modrić.
He's already got 30, just turned 22.
Modrić wasn't a regular feature before he turned 22.

Yeah thanks, I needed rest. 🙂

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phnompenhandy

phnompenhandy

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6 minutes ago, EnterUsernameHere said:

Just getting my daily rant in here...I know why it happens but stop talking about England in the build up for a Spain Vs Croatia game ffs.

Who wants it? If you're tuning in for this game you surely aren't casual enough to want to hear only about the England team?

Um, the only post blethering about England is yours!

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eenie

eenie

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29 minutes ago, martinji said:

Disappointing studio lineup for ITV - Neville, Keane and Wright.  Much prefer it when we get people from the nations that are playing, to add that bit of studio rivalry and they tend to have more relevant knowledge.  ITV seem to just be rotating from a small roster of established names.

ITV is just absolutely woeful full stop

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phnompenhandy

phnompenhandy

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8 minutes ago, EnterUsernameHere said:

Talking about ITV, should have mentioned :D

Oh, fair enough. I'm not cursed with any of that. There are people nattering away in Vietnamese :larry:

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dafuge

dafuge

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16 minutes ago, EnterUsernameHere said:

Just getting my daily rant in here...I know why it happens but wish ITV would stop talking about England in the build up for a Spain Vs Croatia game ffs.

Who wants it? If you're tuning in for this game you surely aren't casual enough to want to hear only about the England team?

I don't mind it, especially when it's just a few minutes out of a decent length build up to the game. Been plenty of time spent on Spain so far.

The build up to Slovenia v Denmark might be a bit different though.

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GunmaN1905

GunmaN1905

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1 minute ago, CFuller said:

Croatia hardly ever change much. Forget Modric - I think this is something like Ivica Olic's 9th tournament as a player or coach. :D

Dalić just keeps adding retired players to the staff.

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