Qatar 2022: Croatia faces new challenge with 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia in mind

Croatian National Team

Croatia, ranked 15th in the latest international rankings in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, faces a promising challenge, after its remarkable achievement in the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia, finishing in second place, after a historic championship for Croatians. Croatia was drawn into Group F alongside Belgium, Morocco and Canada, with its first match to take place on Nov 23 against Morocco, followed by its second match on the 27th of the same month against Canada, with the group stage matches concluding on Dec 1 against Belgium. The Croatian Football Federation chose the Hilton Doha Hotel as the national team's headquarters during the tournament. The team will conduct its training on Al Erssal Training Site 3. By qualifying for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, Croatia got itself a second chance to reattempt to take hold of the world cup, after having finished at the top of Group H in the European qualifiers with 23 points, one point ahead of Russia, who was excluded from the European play-off qualifiers. In the World Cup edition dedicated to all Arabs, Croatia will rely on a formation that includes several of the 2018 breakthrough players, most notably Luka Modric, the most prominent player of the Croatian shirt. The midfielder played his 135th international match against Cyprus in the World Cup qualifiers, with the duo: Ivan Perisic and Marcelo Brozovic on his side, both of whom played a key role in Croatia's campaign during the 2018 World Cup. Croatia will play difficult matches in Group F, with coach Zlatko Dalic counting on the best player of all times in the Croatian team Luka Modric, having had a great share of the credit for Croatia finishing second place in the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia. In fact, only a few months later, Modric was named the best player in the world. The 35-year-old player still holds the reins in the teams midfield, as leader and captain of the national team. Croatia qualified as an independent country to the World Cup finals six times, making its first appearance in the 1998 FIFA World Cup France, and performing greatly, thanks to the brilliance of its star Davor Suker, who led his country in winning the bronze medal. After its first participation, the Croatian team failed to exceed the group stage in three successive world cup tournaments, only to break the curse and surpass its previous achievement in the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia, when Croatia won the silver medal, after it failed to win the world title, as a consequence of losing the final match against France (2-4). During the Croatian teams World Cup participations, it played 23 matches, won 11 matches, drew in 4 matches, lost in 8 matches, scoring 35 goals and receiving 26 goals against it. At the European level, Croatia participated since its independence in six editions, the last of which was UEFA Euro 2020. However, its most notable achievement was in its first participation in 1996 in England, when it reached the quarterfinals. Croatia reached the same success in the 2008 edition, which was held in both Austria and Switzerland. On the other hand, the team was eliminated from the group stage on two occasions, and in the last 16 stage on two other occasions as well. Croatia played in the European Championship, 22 matches, won in 9 matches, drew in 5 matches, lost in 7 matches, scored 30 goals, and conceded 28 goals. Croatian football has presented the world with a number of prominent stars throughout the ages, led by Davor Suker, the national team's historical scorer with 45 goals, Croatia's top scorer in the World Cup finals with 6 goals, the Golden Shoe Award in the 1998 FIFA World Cup France, and third place winner in the FIFA World Player of the Year award in 1998. Darijo Srna shines as the player that represented the national team the highest number of times, in 143 matches, as well as the most played player in the World Cup with 11 games in his record. Also in the list is Robert Jarni, the former left-back of Real Madrid and Juventus, as well as the current national team duo Luka Modric, the best player in the world 2018, and Spanish Ivan Rakitic, former Barcelona, and the current Sevilla player.