Quote from: slackovic on Today at 02:04:43 PM

So Croatia managed to beat Saudi Arabia in today's friendly game but it was tougher than expected. Saudi Arabia was probably a test game for the first game against Morocco. Croatia had two goals canceled because of the offside and I think that Dalic should be a little worried because Croatia didn't dominate as it would be expected. Saudi Arabia missed few really good chances and just because of that Croatia won in the end. Interestingly, Luka Modric wasn't in the starting lineup. I guess that Dalic wanted to test how would his team play without their best playmaker. And judging by the attendance (the game was played in Saudi Arabia), local fans couldn't care less about their football team.

Friendly matches cannot be an accurate indicator. No player cares about friendlies. Teams play mainly as substitutes to avoid injury before the cup. Nobody gives 100% to the field. There are no players playing abroad in the Saudi Arabian squad. The quality of the Arab league is obvious, it's difficult to get a good player from there. Croatia won the match without difficulty. Even if the match had ended in a draw or Croatia had lost, nothing would have changed. Dalic tried a few tactics he had in mind, that's all. We should not attach too much meaning to these matches.