England v Croatia match preview

England host Croatia on Sunday in the UEFA Nations League. This is a repeat of the World Cup semi-finals. England will hope they can put some of the memories to bed and get a good result.

The two teams have already met last month but the game was quite a boring encounter and ended 0-0. England will hope that they will be able to put in a better performance and beat the Croatians. Last group of games England beat Spain 2-3 in Seville, which means the group is still wide open and anyone could win it.

If the Croatians draw or win against Spain and then England go on to beat Croatia, then England will win their group and go on the finals which are being held next summer. This final will be the four league winners competing for the title of UEFA Nations League winner.

If England lose, and Croatia get a draw or a win against Spain on Thursday, then England could get relegated to League B. If Croatia beat both Spain and England in their final two games, they will win the group and go on to the finals. This is why it is very intriguing to see how the game between Spain and Croatia ends, because it will have a big effect on what outcomes could occur from the England Croatia game. Though, if Spain wins, then Croatia have a much worse goal difference to England and their game will not have such a big significance, unless Croatia can win by more than four goals.

In England’s other game in the international break, they will face USA in a friendly. Wayne Rooney will be given his 120th and final cap in an emotional send off for the England top scorer. Some people have criticized the decision to give him a sendoff, however, it is a nice gesture from Southgate and the FA to a player who has given the national team so much.