First of all thanks for the detailed reply. Excellent analysis, I should say. I don't know whether I will agree with the last sentence though. Winning the Euro Cup in 2024 will be a huge achievement, but I don't know whether I should consider them as one of the favorites. I went through your reply a few times, and then asked this question to myself - why not Croatia? When we talk about teams that are considered as the favorites to win Euro 2024, we always talk about France, Italy, Spain, England and even Germany. Croatia has been pretty consistent over the last decade or so, but a lot of people have difficulty in placing them at the same league as the other favorites. And I suspect this has to do with issues other than football. Croatia is a small country with 4 million people. It is difficult to imagine that they can perform at the same level as France or England.
I think the analysis forgets the fact that the names he replaced are much better than the players that they have now. Sure they have some good players, but to say Livakovic as one of the best goalkeepers in the world now? That seems like overrating him a bit, maybe barely top 10, but that's it.To say the least, they have a roster value that is matching teams that are not even in the world cup, surely they played better than their roster value but that is exactly the reason why they are doing good. They do not have great players, they never did, they had a few here and there, but none of their players were stars aside from Modric, who is the sole ballon d'or winner during Ronaldo/Messi domination period, but this game is played with 11, so they had 10 other players who were not really finalist level good. The thing that makes Croatio good is not the players, it's the team spirit they play with.
First of all, let's get a few things straight. Why did I say that Livakovic is one of the best goalkeepers in the world? Because according to almost all statistical indicators, it was he, not Martinez, who was the best goalkeeper of the World Cup in Qatar, especially in terms of the number of saves.
For most neutral analysts, it is obvious that the main reason why Martinez was declared the best goalkeeper of the world championship is the fact that Argentina became the world champion and Croatia was third in the world cup.
In addition, it is really an exaggeration to say that Croatia achieved better results in the last 2 world cups and in the last League of Nations competition compared to the quality of its team, then that would really be a world miracle.
Is it really so difficult to admit to Croats that they are a quality and strong team, with players who play in the best clubs in the world such as Real, Bayer, Chelsea, Inter and others, and that they are not a one man show (Modrić)?
Many other national teams in the world have team spirit, but in order to continuously play in the finals and semi-finals of the biggest world and European competitions, you need to have something more than team spirit, and that is the quality of the team.