Croatia Faces Gibraltar in Crucial World Cup 2026 Qualifier Showdown
Croatia will begin their UEFA World Cup 2025 Qualifiers campaign against Gibraltar as they join Group L of the competition. Gibraltar are currently at the bottom of the table in the group after losing the first two games.
This will be the first time both these sides will meet in a competitive game. Their previous meeting came in an international friendly as Croatia won 4-0 in 2015. Although Gibraltar has found it tough to win games, lost only three of their last 10 games.
Croatia will miss out on their veteran midfielder Mateo Kovacic who underwent surgery. He’s expected to be sidelined for three months as the Manchester City man will also miss out on the 2925 Club World Cup. Additionally, Toni Fruk and Luka Sucic will also be out of the squad against Gibraltar due to injuries.
Croatia Predicted XI: Dominik Livakovic – Josip Stanisic – Duje Caleta-Car – Josko Gvardiol – Borna Sosa – Martin Baturina – Ivan Martinovic – Lovro Majer – Bruno Petkovic – Andrej Kramaric – Josip Brekalo
No specific injuries were reported for Gibraltar’s squad in the provided sources. However, five players, along with head coach Scott Wiseman, are at risk of missing Gibraltar’s next match against Faroe Islands.
Gibraltar Predicted XI: Bradley Banda – Kian Ronan – Bernardo Lopes – Louie Annesley – Ethan Britto – Dan Bent – Tjay De Barr – James Scanlon – Nicholas Pozo – Graeme Torrilla – Jaiden Bartolo – Liam Walker
After previous two successful World Campaigns with runner-up in 2022 and third place in 2018, Croatia has earned the respect of the football world. Transforming into a formidable nation, players like Luka Modric, Ivan Perisic and Ivan Rakitic have been a crucial part of this turnover in the past decade.
Croatia will go again as they begin their Qualifying campaign for the FIFA World Cup 2026 in the USA and Mexico. They will face Czechia in the next game later this week at home as they travel to Portugal for the first game against Gibraltar.
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