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Why Croatia Failed at the World Cup
Published: June 24, 2014
It was difficult to assess the true quality and the possible reach of this team as Croatia approached the deciding match in Recife. Against Brazil, the Vatreni held their own and were arguably equal to the hosts for most of the game. The tie seemed to be heading for a draw until an unfortunate call from the referee to award the Selecao a very soft penalty turned it around.
Cameroon helped Croatia and offered itself on a platter when their Barcelona star, Alex Song, got himself sent off for deliberately kicking Mario Mandzukic’s back with his elbow. After that their play fell apart and Croatia were able to destroy them through quick counters, thriving on chaos in their opponents’ link-up play.
There were many lessons from those two games: some of them pointed out the good things in Kovac’s tactics and the way the team played, but some of them also revealed serious problems.
It was strange that a team featuring two top class central midfielders, playmakers who are among the best in the World—Real Madrid’s Luka Modric and Barcelona’s new signing Ivan Rakitic—struggles to maintain ball possession and plays mainly on the counter and attacks through flanks. This was not what most people thought it would be when Croatia manager revealed his plan to build a team around that creative core, but without a defensive specialist, a ‘destroyer’ as a safety net behind their back.
Instead, both Modric and Rakitic stayed deep, playing as two defensive midfielders in a 4-2-3-1 formation...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football
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