 Croatia will face yellow and blue opposition in the form of Brazil, not Sweden in the opening round.Croatia will have fond memories of Germany and World Cups after their demolition of the host nation at the 1998 championship in France.
This time, however, Brazil will be their first opponents and will prove more of a problem. |  Seven wins in 10 games: these results are nothing to be ashamed of. The Croatians remained unbeaten in their group and ultimately asserted themselves against rival Sweden in the fight for first place. Although Sweden ended up with just as many points as Croatia in the qualifiers, it had to admit defeat against the Croatian team both at home and away.
The "hero" of both decisive 1:0 wins in the qualifiers against group opponent Sweden was Darijo Srna, who shot the winning goal both times. Well-known professionals from the German Bundesliga are also part of the Croatian team, such as Ivan Klasnic (SV Werder Bremen), Marko Babic (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Josip Simunic and Niko Kovac (both Hertha BSC). |
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