The Mladi Vatreni are back in complete control of their Euro 2021 dreams. After a slim 1-0 loss to Portugal on Thursday, Croatia came out hot against the Swiss to carry a 1-0 lead into halftime. Dinamo’s Luka Ivanušec opened up the scoring early off a Swiss defensive gaffe by sending a half-volley past a scrambling keeper. A Nikola Moro penalty would make it 2-0 in the 2nd half before Dario Vizinger netted a perfect shot into the lower-left corner of the net following a break away. Croatia were up comfortably 3-0 before the sky started to fall.
A desperate Swiss team started cutting into the lead when Vizinger was ruled to have touched the ball with his hand in the box, giving the Swiss a penalty which they converted in the 79′. 10 minutes later, substitute Sandro Kulenović would strike a Swiss corner kick into his own net to make it 3-2 Vatreni. After a long 6-minute extra time, Croatia would weather the storm to secure a 3-2 victory. With Portugal defeating England 2-0 in the other Group D match, a Croatia win over England on Wednesday will see them through to the quarterfinals. This is all with key players Sosa, Sučić, and Gvardiol.
Croatia now control their own destiny for a quarterfinal berth as they play England on Wednesday with Switzerland playing a high flying Portugal side. If Croatia win, they are in. If both games end in a draw, Croatia are also in based on head-to-head. The knockout rounds will take place in May/June.
1st Half Highlights & Ivanušec Goal
Mladi Vatreni simply nailed it…hope they beat England to progress. They are very talented
Moro’s penalty was extremely well taken.
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It looked just like Krama’s penalty against Schmeichel at the World Cup. He needs to give Modrić lessons.
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Switzerland’s goals were ridiculous. A fake penalty away from any danger, and yes, Kulenović with a beautiful own goal lol.
Hopefully England brings out their B squad to give them minutes, since they are out of it anyway.
Ya Vizinger and Bistrovic were decent and have potential as well.
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We need Vuskovic to be solid on Wed to have a chance of going through. England have lost both opening games now. May only need a draw depending on what happens with Swiss vs Port
@Andrej L
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I completely agree. Bradaric, Moro and Ivanusec were men amongst boys. Hopefully Moro’s injury isn’t bad. It looked like either a groin or hip issue.
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Vizinger looked lively, scored a nice goal on a beautiful through ball by Moro.
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Kulenovic scored the nicest own goal I’ve ever seen. I thought he looked lazy otherwise.
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Bistrovic also looked ok. He seems very imposing. He won the penalty after a nice pass from Ivanusec.
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Kotarski looks like he has some potential. Still error prone though.
Penalty against the mini vatreni was a joke and got the “Swiss” back in the game also should have had a player down for a brutal shoulder to head foul that one of their players did while they we still 3-0;down.
I caught the game on UEFA.tv. Was disappointed that Majer was rested/benched. Bradaric looks most worthy of playing for the senior squad. Closely followed by Ivanusec & Moro (not yet better than Perisic or Badelj). Too bad Erlic got injured which sucks since Gvadiol and Sucic are already out. Next game Wed at lunch time against the English who lost to the Swiss.