FIFA World Cup 2018: Russia vs Croatia

The fourth quarterfinal of this FIFA World Cup 2018 between Russia and Croatia proved to be a firecracker of a game. The hosts gave it everything but Croatias quality proved too much. Still, it took a penalty shoot-out to decide a restless encounter. The last two remaining Eastern European sides at the FIFA World Cup 2018 provided drama in abundance. Russia have exceeded expectations by reaching this stage. Croatia, led by the imperious Luka Modric, have created history.

Teams

Russia set up in a 4-4-2 where the second striker Golovin often dropped into number 10 role. Their line-up was Akinfeev in goal with Fernandes, Kutepov, Ignashevich and Kudryashov in defence. In midfield, they had Samedov to the right, Kuziaev and Zobnin centrally and Cheryshev to the right. Golovin and Dzyuba started up front.

Croatia set up in a very attacking 4-2-3-1. Subasic continued in goal after his penalty heroics in the last round. Vrsaljko, Lovren, Vida and Strinic made up the defence. Superstars Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic sat in a double pivot behind an attacking trio of Rebic, Kramaric and Perisic. The striker was Mario Mandzukic.

Croatias initial build-up struggles

Despite the quality of Croatias midfield duo of Modric and Rakitic they struggled to dominate the game early on. One reason for this was Russias effective pressing. Another was the poor structure of the central areas. Rakitic would often drop in-between the centre-backs to get on the ball as the full-backs pushed forward. The wingers, however, maintained their wide positions and Kramaric stayed behind Russias midfield line. This left Modric as the only central player to progress the ball to. But when Modric often made dropping movements into the wide-right area, Croatia had no central option. The results was the ball often ended up in wide areas where Russia could press and force a long-ball forward.

As the image above highlights, Rakitic drops in to create a 3 vs 2 against Russias forwards while Modric moves wide. The lack of a central presence in midfield makes Croatia play outside the Russian defensive structure, making it easier to defend for the Russians.

Thankfully for Croatia, they are very good in wide areas. They managed to create dangerous situations a few times, especially down the right where Rebic would move into the half-space while Vrsaljko pushed forward. An example can be seen below as Vrsaljko receives a pass into the depth and then crosses well for Mandzukic.