POLL: Will Croatia advance to the quarterfinals of the League of Nations?

The Croatian national football team suffered its second defeat in this year’s League of Nations, losing 1:0 to Scotland in Glasgow. With this outcome, Scotland kept its chances of remaining in the elite group of the League of Nations, but also of reaching the finals of the competition. On the other hand, Croatia is still the favorite for second place, which would allow it to advance to the next stage.

The match can be divided into two phases. The first lasted until the 43rd minute, when Petar Sučić earned a second yellow card, i.e. exclusion. Until that moment, Croatia was dominant in possession of the ball, and Scotland was under a lot of pressure. Zlatko Dalić faced with injuries to key players, he had to adjust the squad, so he switched to a formation with four defenders, while Josko Guardiol played in the position of defender. This change did not bring the desired effect in the attack, and Croatia, despite its technological superiority, had problems in the final phase.

Despite the defeat, Vatreni did not suffer any serious blow. The most important goal, which is securing a place in the first strong hat for World Cup qualifications, has been achieved. The focus should now be on the 2026 qualifiers, as they are far more important than any final Nations League match.

Dalic’s national team knew how to play weaker games and win, and after Glasgow there is more certainty about the long-term plan than after winning games that were full of questions. It was simply not a day at Hampden in Croatia, but that is not a reason for big worries.

The Vatreni will play their last match at Poljud against Portugal without Luka Modrić and Petar Sučić who will not perform due to the card. The mitigating circumstance is that it will not be in Split Christian Ronaldo as well as Pedro Neto (Chelsea), Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United) and Bernard Silva (Manchester City). According to the latest calculations, there are two possible scenarios for the placement of Croatia among the eight best national teams.

The first scenario is that Croatia beats Portugal in Split. In that case, the result of the match between Scotland and Poland will not be important, because Croatia would secure passage regardless of the outcome of that match.

The second scenario includes a situation in which Croatia loses to Portugal, then Scotland must not beat Poland, because in that case, with a win, they would tie with Croatia on points.

However, since the head-to-head ratio between Croatia and Scotland does not give an advantage to either team, the goal difference would decide the passage, where Croatia currently has a two-goal advantage. Poland, on the other hand, cannot overtake Croatia due to a worse mutual ratio.