Croatia’s chances at the World Cup 2018
If you are looking down the list of potential dark horses at the 2018 World Cup then it would be hard to look past the challenge of Croatia. Even though they are not going to draw too much attention to them in the outright winner betting market coming in at a price of 33/1 to win the event outright* (betting odds taken on May 20th, 2018 at 7:04 p.m.), it leaves them as a tempting each way option.
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They have great potential they have a lot of quality running through their midfield for certain and are more than capable of pulling off a surprise or two. They could even potentially pull off a massive one in the group stage as they will be challenging the out of form Argentina for top spot there. A place in the quarter-finals would probably be deemed a huge success for the country.
Visit Bet365Croatia World Cup 2018 Fixtures – Group Stage
Croatia landed themselves in that all interesting group D which also contains Argentina, Iceland and Nigeria. That is a tremendously competitive group with such variety in opposition that it is going to need some adaptability. Croatia opens their account on Saturday, June 16 when they take on Nigeria and in what could be a tight group, it is going to be vitally important for the European side to get off to a winning start. Croatia are actually 4/5 odds-on favourite* (betting odds taken on May 20th, 2018 at 7:04 p.m.) to win the opening game of theirs.
Then comes their big challenge and the game on which their top-spot hopes could hinge as they meet Argentina, who are the group favourites, on Thursday, June 21. Argentina had some major problems through qualification and they haven’t produced much form at all over the last two years. So that could give Croatia a decent chance of pushing the South Americans hard in a game which may well be a group decider. Croatia are 14/5 second favourites* (betting odds taken on May 20th, 2018 at 7:04 p.m.) behind the South Americans to win group D at Russia 2018.
Winning that game could be huge for Croatia but they certainly look as if they could hold their own. Croatia and Argentina have met three times before with Argentina holding a 2-1 advantage from the head-to-head. One of those meetings was at the 1998 World Cup with Argentina collecting a 1-0 victory.
Croatia will finish off their campaign against Iceland, who they competed against during World Cup 2018 qualification, finishing second in their group to the Icelanders. During those World Cup qualifiers the two sides traded home wins but in the recent head to head it has been mostly Croatia on top. From the six previous meetings between Croatia and Iceland, it is Iceland who trails 1-4 against Croatia with just the one drawn game between them. Croatia have never met their are other group opponents Nigeria before.
Croatia Stage of Elimination
So how far can Croatia go at the 2018 World Cup? They have a pretty solid chance of getting out of the group and as far as we can see, they have a good chance of winning it against an out-of-sorts Argentina. So Croatia will probably be lining up in the round of 16 and there they would face a team from Group C which contains France, Australia, Peru, and Denmark. The obvious tough challenger would be France which is why it could be all-important for Croatia to actually win Group E and avoid them.
Things toughen up more down the line of course, because if Croatia were to win their group they could potentially meet up with Spain in the quarter-finals, where if they finish second in the group they would have to get through France most likely before meeting somebody like Uruguay or Portugal in the quarter-finals.
Croatia are in a challenging group but there’s enough room for them to get through to the knockout stages at the very least and then you are realistically looking at a round of 16 or a quarter-final exit for Croatia. Croatia going home in the round of 16 is a 13/8 odds while they are 9/2* (betting odds taken on May 20th, 2018 at 7:04 p.m.) to go home at the quarters.
Croatia Top Goalscorer
Croatia are naturally going to need some firepower to get through the group so where is that going to come from? The shortest-priced option in the Croatia top goalscorer market for World Cup 2018 betting is Mario Mandzukic at 2/1 odds with bet365. The main options behind him are Ivan Perisic, Nikola Kalinic and Andrej Kramaric. Mandzukic was Croatia’s top goalscorer in World Cup qualification with five goals.
Outright Odds* for the World Cup 2018
Brazil 4/1, Germany 9/2, Spain 6/1, France 13/2, Argentina 9/1, Belgium 11/1, England 18/1, Portugal 25/1, Uruguay 33/1, Croatia 33/1, bar 40/1* (Betting Odds taken at 5:27 p.m. on May 16th, 2018)
Predictions
Croatia are a pretty big price to go and get the title win at the World Cup 2018, however they are a tremendous dark horse prospect. Just because of how poor Argentina have been over the last couple of years, Croatia can make a serious challenge to win Group D. That would put them through to, more likely than not, an easy enough round of 16 tie against Denmark.
There is so much quality in the centre of the park for Croatia and they aren’t short of goals either, that we are backing them to get that done and therefore a quarter-final stage of elimination at 9/2 odds with bet365* (betting odds taken on May 20th, 2018 at 7:04 p.m.) could well return a nice bit of value as a surprise.
