© EuroFootball.com
In the second match of the evening, the national teams of France and Croatia will meet. The match will take place at the Magalhaes Pessoa Stadium in the city of Leiria, and the referee will be Danish Kim Milton Nielsen.
France, after dramatic matches with England which ended in a French triumph, became the leader of the group. A victory against Croatia would guarantee a place in the quarterfinals for the French footballers. Meanwhile, Croatia will try to prove that they can compete for the top spots, despite failing to beat the Swiss team in the previous round, playing with ten men from the second half.
Croatian Tomislav Šokota, who struggled to break through the Swiss defense, will most likely make way for Ivica Olić, who played in a defensive position against Switzerland but will now be pushed forward to form an attacking pair. The gap on the left side will be filled by Milan Rapaić, who did not play in the first match. There will be more changes in the midfield - Ivica Mornar will replace [someone]. In defense, there will also be one change - as expected, Igor Tudor, after missing the match with the Swiss due to yellow cards, will take his place in the center of defense, and Josip Simunić will play on the left side, where captain Boris Živković played, but suffered a knee injury.
French coach Jacques Santini will likely send out Willy Sagnol and assign him the position of attacking right-back, while Marcel Desailly will take up the center-back role. If the shoulder injury does not heal, Olivier Dacourt, who also did not play in the first match against England, will be deployed instead. Zinedine Zidane, as always, should be the link between the defense and the attackers. "We have to find ways to break down the Croatian defense. Just like we did against England," Santini said.
Croatia will have an easier time because as the underdogs of this match, they won't feel as much pressure. They should give the initiative to the French and aim to counter-attack quickly. Croatia's head coach assistant Dražen Ladić said: "Our goal is not to lose to France, and we will play relaxed because we are not the favorites. It wouldn't be a huge tragedy to lose to a team like France."
Croatia will have to play much better than against Switzerland if they want to stand up to the French. The latter will undoubtedly be the favorites of the match, but Sunday's match against the English national team should remind them that unpredictable events are what make football an intriguing spectacle.
Predicted lineups:
France (4-4-2): Barthez; Sagnol, Thuram, Desailly, Lizarazu; Pires, Dacourt, Vieira, Zidane; Henry, Trezeguet.
Croatia (4-4-2): Butina; Šimic, Robert Kovac, Tudor, Šimunic; Rosso, Bjelica, Niko Kovac, Rapaic; Olic, Pršo.
Try to predict the match results in the totalizator!
