According to the national coach of Croatia, Zlatko Dalic, the key in tonight's match will be the midfielders. Certainly, the possession style game led by Modric and Rakitic was the mark of the runners-up in the last World Cup. In fact, during the last decade, those two players have been the most important in a generation who impressed in the Eurocup of 2008.
Since then, Croatia has beaten teams such as Germany, Spain, Argentina or England, and even when they were defeated against Brazil or Portugal, there was always the sense of bad luck after a good performance done by the Croatians.
Thus, they peaked in 2018 reaching the final, and even though Subasic or Mandzukic have retired from the national team, the team doesn't appear weaker with Brozovic, Perisic, Rakitic and the UEFA Best Player, Modric. Indeed, the match against Spain will be a battle for ball possession, the principal weapon of Dalic's team.
A good start for Luis Enrique
After three disastrous tournaments played by Spain, the new coach didn't want a revolution but an evolution, as he said recently. Nevertheless, they showed against England a high level of pressure when they lost the ball and a quick way to move it. Besides, with Ramos leading the defense, there were many times when they tried to reach the forwards by passing long balls to the hyperactive Aspas and Rodrigo.
Precisely, the players from Valencia and Saul were perhaps the most decisive players in the pitch, and it sounds strange that they barely played at the last World Cup. For example, the Atletico Madrid midfielder scored a goal and was running relentlessly during the whole match, helping the defenders and playing box to box. And yet, he didn't play a single minute in Russia.
Summing up, Luis Enrique has provided another approach to the national team, and the Spain of Wembley looked so similar to the one managed by Lopetegui, who also impressed from the beginning until he was sacked two days before the debut against Portugal.
Portugal and France win
Although Cristiano Ronaldo decided to not play with his national team in order to keep training with Juventus, Fernando Santos' team won against Italy thanks to the goal of Andre Silva.
Italy, who drew against Poland, still looks in a dark mood that cost them the qualification to the last World Cup.
On another group, France suffered to beat the Netherlands by 2-1 in their first match at home after the triumph in Russia. Currently, they top a group integrated by Germany, who couldn't win in the first match against Deschamp's players.
Moreover, Switzerland destroyed Iceland by 6-0, Scotland won against Albania by 2-0, and teams such as Andorra or Malta have points in their respective matches. Apparently, the UEFA Nations League is being a success considering the intensity played by almost all the teams.
