Croatia reached their first ever FIFA World Cup final by beating England 2-1 after extra time. It makes Croatia the first Eastern European side since Czechoslovakia in 1962 to reach the final of a World Cup and the third nation to reach that stage since Hungary did it first. Both previous nations lost. If Croatia play at the same level they did when turning this game around they have every chance of breaking that barrier. Maybe the FIFA World Cup 2018 is the tournament when Eastern Europe finally delivers a world champion. Lets take a look at how they turned the game around.
Teams
Croatias team was predictable, with the only worry whether Sime Vrsaljko would be fit enough to start. He was and lined up at right back as always. Croatian coach Zlatko Dalic also opted for a 4-3-3 with Marcelo Brozovic joining Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic in midfield.
Gareth Southgate picked the same XI which comfortably defeated Sweden in the quarter-finals. This meant a midfield three of Jordan Henderson, Jesse Lingard and Dele Alli to combat Croatias brilliant trio.
England take the??initiative
England started brightly and pressed high early on. The front-two of Sterling and Kane would work together to steer the ball away from Brozovic and allow one of the centre-backs to carry it forward. Lingard and Alli would defend according to their positions but with loose man-orientation towards Rakitic and Modric respectively. Barely a minute had gone when Lingard fouled Rakitic just outside his own box, highlighting Englands loosely man-orientated pressing scheme. An example can be seen below.
If the ball went to
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