On Sunday, July 1 at 2pm Eastern in Nizhny Novrogod, Luka Modric will try to lead a Croatian team that surprised everyone in the group stage by beating Argentina 3-0 and claiming first place in group D past Denmark, who claimed second in their group behind France. This will be the sixth time these two countries have met in international competition. So far both teams have two wins and one draw in those matchups. The last meeting was in 1996, when Croatia won 3-0. According to our Croatia vs Denmark World Cup Betting odds, Croatia has the upper hand in this match, with their talented midfielders carrying a good deal of momentum out of their highly successful group stage games.
Croatia
While they were always a promising squad with two titans in the Midfield in Modric and Ivan Rakitic, Croatia has had a history of disappointment in international competition. This year’s World Cup has been different, however, as they quickly established themselves as the best team in World Cup group D by beating Argentina, Nigeria, and Iceland by a combined score of 7-1. Along with Uruguay, they are the only other team to have completed the group stage without a loss. The three wins represent the longest streak of victories this country has ever had at the World Cup.
All areas of the field have looked strong for Croatia, especially their midfield. Four of their seven goals have been scored by midfielders, two of which came from Modric. Croatia have also been deadly in the second half, when they have scored six of their seven goals.
Denmark
While it may not be a surprise that Denmark have made it out of the group stage, it certainly is an accomplishment for a country who has advanced to the round of 16 only three other times in their World Cup history. This time they did it by getting an opportunistic win against Peru in a game where they were badly outshot 17-10, followed up by and underwhelming 1-1 tie against a determined Australian team, then forcing another tie against France. Their star player Christian Eriksen has played a major role in getting them this far, covering over 22 miles of pitch over the three group stage games, in which he played every minute and scored one goal and recorded one assist.
Match Overview
Due to their dominance in the first round, Croatia is favored to win this match, but in terms of player personnel, this is a very close match. Denmark is a deeper team than just Eriksen, Striker Andreas Cornelius is a dangerous scoring threat and Thomas Delaney leads a midfield that plays a very compact and precise game, evidenced by the fact that they have only given up one goal in their three games so far. However, Denmark’s offense still lives and dies with Eriksen, who is the only player on the team with more than one shot on goal through three group stage games. Further, in the last 16 matches Denmark has played, Eriksen has 13 goals.
