Euro 2012 Qualifiers - Match Review: Group F Croatia 3-0 vs. Latvia
Latvia took on Croatia in one of the first matches of the European Championship qualification from Group F. Croatia and Latvia are joined in the group by the likes of Israel, Greece, Malta and Georgia. In the first match of the group, Israel gained a crucial victory over Malta, so the pressure was on Croatia and Latvia to win their first qualification encounter.
Latvia came to the match with a wretched run of form as the eastern European nation had not recorded a victory in an international competitive football match since 14th October, 2009. Back on that date, Latvia defeated Moldova by three goals to two in a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification match but as things planned out, Latvia eventually did not qualify for the tournament.
As far as Croatia were concerned, they also missed out on a World Cup appearance in South Africa. Latvia played the match with Maris Verpakovskis and Girts Karlsons in attack but Croatia had more star players in their line-up as Vedran Corluka, the Tottenham defender, took up the centre-back spot in the Croatian defence. Up front, Ivica Olic and Eduardo Da Silva played as strikers for the visitors. Both the strikers had a lot riding on their performances as both had club reputations to up hold. In midfield for the Croatians, Niko Kranjčar was entrusted with the task of retaining and distributing possession of the ball. Latvia were managed by Aleksandrs Starkovs for the match that took place at Skonto Stadion in Riga, Latvia.
From the start of the match, Croatian strength shone through as they kept control of the ball and seldom allowed the Latvians to make their charge towards the Croatian goal. Kranjcar dictated the pace of the match brilliantly as he sprayed passes all over the pitch for Olic and Eduardo. Croatia were also first to any loose balls in defence or midfield and were stronger in their tackles as well.
However, the referee’s patience with their aggressive approach soon gave away as in the 37th minute of the first half, Ognjen Vukojević was shown the first yellow card of the match by the Dutch referee Björn Kuipers.
Croatia took the lead due to Mladen Petrić’s clinical finish in the 42nd minute of the match, and in all honesty, it was coming for the Latvians as they were being totally outplayed by Slaven Bilic’s side. At the half time mark, the score was one nil in favour of the Croatians.
After the second half started, Olic added another goal to the Croatian national team’s lead in the 49th minute of the match. This goal took the score-line to two nil and took any remaining amount of hope out of the Latvian players. In the 62nd minute of the second half, Eduardo was taken off by the Croatian manager and the Brazilian born centre-forward was replaced by Nikica Jelavic. Eduardo was transferred to Shakhtar Donetsk in the recently concluded summer transfer window; his sale to Shakhtar from Arsenal came as a surprise as the club had stuck through him after his horrific potential career-ending injury around two years ago. Pavels Mihadjuks and Maris Verpakovskis went into the referee’s book in quick succession in the 74th and 75th minute of the second half.
As the second half progressed, the match slowed down as Croatia started to conserve energy. Their strategy seemed to change from an attacking mindset to a containment one. Even with their slow tempo, Croatia again managed to pull the Latvian defence apart and this time Darijo Srna secured the win for his national team with a fine goal in the 82nd minute of the match. The final score was three-nil to Croatia, as the 1998 World Cup semi-finalists got off to a fantastic start to their Euro 2012 qualification campaign.
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