On a rollercoaster of emotions, after a disastrous first half and overcoming a situation that seemed irreversible thanks to the appearance of Budimir, Croatia could not complete its exercise of resilience against Albania and lost two key points in the 95th minute with a goal from Gjasulawhich culminated in a draw (2-2) that sniffed the end of an era in the team of Zlatko Tadic.
Croatia went from absolute happiness to total desolation in just a few seconds. Gjasula, who scored an own goal that solved the score for his rivals (1-2), corrected his mistake at the horn. The appearance of Budimir was not enough, who came off the bench with 0-1 down to turn the score around with a couple of actions that led to goals from Kramaric and Gjasula himselfprotagonist of Albania for the bad and the good.
Now, we can see the end of an era in Croatia. They have one last mission, to beat Italy on the last day and hold on to being second or one of the best third places. It will be his last cartridge to not fire Modric and the generation survivors in a sad group stage of the Euro Cup. Any fan with some football sentimentality will not want to see a possible farewell of the Real Madrid player with his national team. It would be quite cruel.
And, throughout the opening act, all the doubts that Croatia generated in its debut against Spain appeared again. His stumble against Luis de la Fuente’s team It could be an exception, a small shock within a courageous group that has come forward over the last five years in truly emergency situations. But those signs of generational exhaustion that came from their debut in the Euro Cup remained against Albania for 45 minutes.
Zlatko Dalic He was also not very satisfied with the match his players completed and made several changes to his lineup. He recomposed his defense: he removed Pongracic and moved Gvardiol from the left side to the center of the defense; He placed Perisic in his place, in an attempt to get more arrival and depth in his zone; He did the same on the right, where he located Juranovic and sat on the bench Stanisic. Up, out Budimir and in Petkovic.
The rest, the same. Including part of the foundations of a generation that is already pointing to its end. Modric, Brozovic and Kovacic stayed to govern the midfield. They, sadly, were part of the problem in the first half, in which they were very predictable and exasperatingly thick. They moved Croatia very slowly and parsimoniously. And even Modric, almost always infallible, made mistakes on several seemingly simple passes.
Albania also had its share of prominence. Not everything was Croatia’s mistakes, because the team Sylvinho proposed an intelligent duel. He already showed his paw against Italy and maintained his tone as a difficult, combative and orderly team. On this occasion he changed forward for forward, Manaj for Broja, a much larger man to retain balls with his back and fix defenses. Sylvinho, without a doubt, achieved his objective during the first half: completely nullifying his rival.
And while Croatia played aimlessly, wrapped in a very dangerous nebula, Albania took advantage of its moment, which in the end was the entire first half, to go into the break ahead on the scoreboard (0-1). Laçi scored the goal, who headed a good cross from Asani from the right wing into the net. Afterwards, Livakovic was in charge of keeping his team alive: first with a save in a one-on-one against Bajrami and then, on the edge of half-time, again, with a saving glove against a point-blank header from Manaj.
Croatia was not dead yet. The catastrophe was foreseen, but he had another chance. Maybe the last one. Dalic tried a change of direction and left in the dugout to Brozovic and Majer. They entered Pasalic and Susic to put an end to the parsimony and lack of Croatian electricity. And the reality is that the entry of both gave a boost to the Balkan team, renewed and finally with more verticality to tackle a comeback that seemed very complicated.
Precisely, it was Susic who was the first to worry Albania. Almost as soon as he left the locker room, he hit a shot from outside the area that saved Strakosha. And it was not a mirage, because Croatia at least gave the sensation of danger with Sylvinho’s team, now bottled up in their field of play, enduring the downpour in any way. Even so, until Budimir’s departure in the last section, Dalic’s team did not obtain its prize.
The Osasuna forward did an exceptional job as an anchor man and, in one of his appearances, managed to enable Kramaric against Strakosha, who could not prevent the equalizer.
And shortly after, he got rid of a defender inside the area, reached the baseline, kicked the ball back and Susic finished on goal. The ball bounced off Gjasula and apparently the miracle Croatia needed was achieved.
🤯Is it being a crazy match?
💥It’s being a crazy match𝑺𝑬𝑮𝑼𝑵𝑫𝑶 𝑮𝑶𝑳 𝑫𝑬 𝑪𝑹𝑶𝑨𝑪𝑰𝑨 3 goal worth a comeback
And 3 points (for now) pic.twitter.com/V5dHakos7Q— Teledeporte (@teledeporte) June 19, 2024
However, in a last desperate push by Albania, Gjasula He once again took center stage with a shot that sank his rivals and caused an uproar among his teammates.
Modric, on the ground, devastated, left an image that could be repeated against Italy if his team does not react with a victory.
Datasheet:
Croatia, 2: Livakovic; Juranovic, Sutalo, Gvardiol, Perisic (Sosa, min. 84); Modric, Brozovic (Pasalic, min. 46), Kovacic; Majer (Sucic, min. 46), Petkovic (Budimir, min. 69) y Kramaric (Baturina, min. 84).
Albania, 2: Strakosha; Hysaj, Djimsiti, Arlind Ajeti, Mitaj; Asllani, Ramadani (Hoxha, min. 85), Laçi (Gjasula, min. 73); Asani (Seferi, min. 64), Manaj (Daku, min. 85) and Bajrami.
Goals: 0-1, min. 11: Laçi; 1-1, min. 74: Kramaric; 2-1, min. 76: Gjasula, a propia meta; 2-2, min. 95: Gjasula.
Referee: François Letexier (France). He showed a yellow card to Hysaj (min. 76) and Gjasula (min. 97) for Albania, and Ivusic (min. 87) for Croatia.
Incidences: match corresponding to the second day of group B of the German Euro Cup played at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg in front of about 55,000 spectators.
2024-06-19 15:31:41
#Croatias #hit #brave #Albania
