A message for Italy, directly from Oeiras: Croatia is in shape, plays well and knows how to suffer. In the last test before Euro2024, Modric and his teammates – opponents of the Azzurri in the third round of the group stage – win 2-1 at Portugal: the Real midfielder opens the ball with a penalty, the former Crotone player Budimir scores the overtaking after Jota’s momentary equalizer. Dominant in the first half and attentive in the second half, coach Dalic’s national team can fly to Germany with optimism.
PORTUGAL-CROATIA 1-2
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For the first time in its history, Portugal suffers a defeat against the Croatian national team. Without Cristiano Ronaldo – on the bench as he only joined the training camp yesterday – Roberto Martinez’s team did not sting in the first half, woke up after the break but then recorded a new, unusual decline. In Croatia there is a Gvardiol in City format: Dalic deploys the Lecce native Pongracic at the center of the defense while the 2002 class moves up the left lane, with the license to attack and centralize in the offensive phase. Dalot suffers tremendously from duels with the 22-year-old, who comes close to scoring on two occasions. The Croatians’ strength lies in the constant exchanges of positions: beyond Gvardiol, there is also Majer who acts as a fake right winger, ready to cover Modric and Kovacic when they attack the opponent’s area. The 1-0 came in the 7th minute with a penalty from the Madrid player, awarded due to a naive foul by Vitinha on Kovacic. At the end of the first half, which was effectively one-sided, Budimir ate up the potential second goal. Coach Martinez thus takes action and sends Semedo, Cancelo, Jota and Leao onto the field. The fresh forces immediately make the difference: three minutes pass and Semedo serves Jota an easy ball to put into the net: 1-1. Right in Portugal’s best moment, however, Croatia is good at compacting and making the most of the counterattacks. Perisic carries the team on his shoulders, but it is from a flick from Atalanta’s Pasalic that the 2-1 is born. In the 56th minute a shot from the midfielder hit the crossbar, Budimir pounced on the rebound and made up for his first-half mistake by beating Diogo Costa. From then on the teams were evenly matched, wasting a couple of opportunities on each side: the 1-2 held out until the final whistle.
THE OTHER FRIENDLY MATCHES
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Among the other matches of the day, the match between Bulgaria and Slovenia ends 1-1 (goal by Despodov from an early penalty, equalizer by Sporar in the 14th minute): Josip Ilicic is seen again on the pitch, coming on in the last half hour after the goal decisive match against Armenia on Tuesday. Switzerland with Sommer, Rodriguez, Freuler and Ndoye, lined up from the start, drew against Austria. Former Udinese player Widmer responds to Baumgartner’s 1-0, while Inter player Arnautovic remains on the bench. Hungary achieves a clear 3-0 against Israel, the result of an excellent performance by Barnabas Vargas: the Ferencvaros striker hits the crossbar in the 6th minute, then offers an assist to Sallai and finally, between the 19th and 22nd , scores a double. Good signs from a European perspective also for Serbia, which approaches the tournament with a victory. Vlahovic (starter) and his teammates beat Sweden 3-0: Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Mitrovic and Tadic scored. Denmark wins 3-1 over Norway: the game ends in the first half, with Hojbjerg scoring the lead in the 10th minute and Vestergaard doubling the lead in the 21st minute. The usual Haaland tries to reopen it in the 72nd minute but in full injury time Poulsen scores the third goal for the Danes. Five goals from Spain against Northern Ireland: Pedri twice, then Morata, Fabian Ruiz and Oyarzabal in the final 5-1 to O’Neill’s team who had even taken the lead after two minutes with Ballard.
