Spain vs Croatia Prediction

Spain vs Croatia Prediction – Spain and Croatia will face off in the Round of 16 on Monday, June 28 at 12:00 pm EST. Spain had a disappointing group stage where they finished second after a dominant performance against Slovakia where they scored five goals.

Croatia have had an equally uninspiring group stage losing to England, drawing the Czech Republic, and beating Scotland most recently. Neither of these teams have played to their potential and want to prove to themselves and their fans that they are a competitive side that is going to make a deep run.

Spain’s Ways to Win

The simple truth is Morata needs to score goals. Spain, whether it is their coaching staff or teammates, need to find a way to boost his confidence enough that Morata starts to find the back of the net. Morata has not been the only problem for Spain as well. Before their game against Slovakia, Spain were nowhere near their traditional exemplary ways. The fans had little hope.

Spain needs an offense to win this. It is easy to say that a team needs to score goals to win the game, but Spain have been debilitatingly poor at it. They need their midfielders and strikers to put the ball on target. And, most importantly, Spain needs someone to step up and make decisive passes. They have nobody who is willing to play a penetrating ball.

The ball gets moved side to side, over and over again, until it’s lost. Spain needs a threatening pass. Something that switches up the tempo, makes Croatia sweat a bit, and has a chance of leading to a goal. Until Spain starts to have confidence to make dangerous passes against top tier competition like Croatia, they won’t have a chance.

Croatia’s Ways to Win

Croatia will be missing Perisic which is a definite loss, and after a strong performance against Scotland, Croatia are definitely full of confidence. In order to beat this Spanish team that has had quite an inconsistent Euro campaign so far, Croatia will have to be compact and disciplined on defense. They are a skilled team that doesn’t take many risks.

If Croatia can make it incredibly difficult for Spain to break them down, and this can be as simple as packing number behind the ball, they will frustrate Spain.

This is a fragile Spanish team. One that has not had the tournament they expected, and they have been hearing it from the fans and media. Shattering their confidence early and making them worry will be incredibly beneficial for this Croatian side. From there, the game will open up and Modric and co. will be able to turn this one for Croatia.