Croatia and Canada will both be looking for their first victories and goals in Group F of the 2022 World Cup when they face-off on Sunday at the Khalifa International Stadium,
Croatia were in good form prior to the World Cup and were tipped to finish in the top two along with Belgium during the build up to the competition. Croatia were in the same Uefa Nations League group as Denmark, Austria, and France, won four of their six games to finish first and advance to the semifinals. Croatia, will be looking to draw some inspiration from their successful Nations League campaign and clinch victory against Canada.
Croatia had a strong game in their opening match, playing a goalless draw 0-0 with Morocco. However, Morocco’s next match is against Belgium and that should give Zlatko Dalic’s team some encouragement. A victory against Canada would take them closer to the knockout rounds.
Canada will be seeking to banish the memories of their excruciating defeat to Belgium by claiming their first ever World Cup win against Croatia. In their opening match against Belgium, Canada was quite simply brilliant. They completely dominated the group favorites and nearly had the perfect start when they were given a penalty. However, Alphonso Davies’ missed the spot kick and that was a sign of things to come, and despite being the better team, Canada fell to a goal by Michy Batshuayi just before halftime.
The loss prolonged Canada’s wait for its first World Cup point and goal after they lost all three group stage matches without scoring in 1986, their only previous appearance. Canada would also take inspiration from their performance against Belgium and be hopeful that they can defeat Croatia with a victory that would put them in complete control of their destiny. However, the 2018 finalists are expected to win and 888 is offering a tasty 6/5 for Croatia to win what is expected to be a low scoring game.