Czech Republic vs Croatia Betting Tips & Predictions

Czech Republic, despite being a fairly capable team in their own right, began Euro 2016 as the underdogs of a group that includes Spain, Croatia, and Turkey. However, they displayed a remarkable level of organisation in their opener against Spain and almost held them off to earn a point.

Spain predictably set up to control possession and try to worm their way through a packed Czech Republic defence, but their back line remained sturdy and played the offside trap well against the front three of Spain. Unfortunately for the Czechs they just couldn’t keep the European Championship holders at bay forever, and eventually a beautiful ball in from man of the match Andres Iniesta found Gerard Pique six yards out, who coolly nodded in the winners. Czech Republic did fight back to be fair to them, with Vladimir Darida volleying straight at David De Gea late on, but the three minutes between the opener and the final whistle wasn’t enough time for them.

Czech Republic will be happy with their display though. They were dominated in possession by Spain, but most teams in the world would be, but they still managed to stop them making a breakthrough for 87 minutes. I can’t see it being that tight against Croatia though, as the Czechs will leave more men forward and try to grab a goal themselves at some point. This should lead to the re-emergence of the defensive frailties that have seen Czech Republic fail to keep a clean sheet in 22 of their last 23 games.

Croatia are favourites alongside Spain to progress from the most difficult group in the competition, and they showed why in their group opener against Turkey on Sunday.

The array of talented midfielders were bypassed in a disappointing first half as both teams settled for hurling the ball into the box, but Luka Modric showed his class when he struck a stunning volley towards the end of the first half to open the scoring. The second half brought something difference, as Ivan Rakitic and Luka Modric started to control the tempo of the game and Croatia threatened again and again to score a second. They deserved to win by more in the end, and they could have done had Darijo Srna and Ivan Perisic not struck the woodwork.

Croatia looked like a very good side when they started to play through their talented set of midfielders, and despite the lack of mobility of Mario Mandzukic they still have a striker who is very capable of finding the net.

This victory extended Croatia’s unbeaten streak to eight matches, with seven of those being victories for them. This includes a win in Russia and a 10-0 hammering of San Marino just before the competition started.

Czech Republic remained defiant at the back against Spain, but Croatia’s game plan is less predictable than their Spanish counterparts. This makes it more difficult to defend against, and the Czechs will be focused on making a few more attacking plays than they did against Spain. This will play into Croatia’s hands perfectly and I expect them to be able to unlock the Czech Republic defence with relative ease given the quality of their midfielders. This makes odds of 10/11 for a Croatia Win look excellent value for money, and I’m also going for a 2-0 correct score prediction due to the fact that Croatia have kept five clean sheets in their last eight games.