On November 16, from 19:45 pm, Croatia and Slovakia meet in the 9th round of the Euro 2020 preliminaries. In Rijeka, the Croats start with the first chance of victory, but the Slovaks will not be an easy opponent, especially as a team. Hamsik and Mak still have chances to qualify for the final tournament.
Croatia leads Group E, with 4 wins in 7 matches and 14 points (14-6 goalscoring). In the second place is Hungary, with 12 points (goal 8-9) and a contradictory balance lately. Finally, Slovakia has 10 points and could move on to second place in the event of a victory, especially since the white-blue ones have a less disputed match than the first two ranked ones! Therefore, group E is very balanced.
Wales has only 8 points and holds theoretical hopes for a dam, while Azerbaijan counts only as “referee”, having only one point in six matches. Croatia and Slovakia did not impress offensively in these preliminaries, although the world had high demands from the World Championship finalist. Rakitic and Modric’s team comes after victories with Slovakia (4-0 in the tour) and Hungary (3-0 at home), but also after draws with Azerbaijan (1-1) and Wales (1-1), which complicated the calculations . The Slovaks drew 1-1 in the previous two matches, with Wales and Paraguay, but the team boasts success in trips to Hungary (2-1) and Azerbaijan (5-1).
We also see that this weekend’s favorites have won victories in the last four duels with Slovaks, scores 4-0, 3-0 and 1-0, plus a 1-1 draw in a friendly played in 2010. The difference in value is in favor. hosts, who know the duel has decisive potential. Although Slovakia has no negligible resources, it is hard to believe that we will attend the surprise, especially since the stadium will be on the hosts’ side.
PREDICTION: Croatia to win @ 1,43
