Croatia vs Czech Republic Prediction, Preview, Team News and Lineups 09.06.2025

• Date and Time: Monday, June 9, 2025, 19:45 GMT+1
• Venue: Opus Arena, Osijek, Croatia

Croatia vs Czech Republic Preview and Team News

Croatia Team News

On Monday, Croatia and the Czech Republic will take each other on in a hotly-contested clash in the World Cup Qualification round 4. The hosts will arrive high on confidence and momentum. Their usually sedate selves, especially without the ball, may have to be given a miss. 

Croatia usually prefer to pass the ball sideways and forwards while building attacks, then pushing further with crosses and long balls. In this game, their defenders will have to be sharp at all times. 

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In Monday’s match, their defence will have to shift quickly between man-marking and zonal marking systems. This means that they will have to turn to a hybrid system. 

Only Borna Sosa seems to be a doubtful starter due to an ankle injury. Coach Zlatko Dalic will not have to worry about other absentees. 

Midfielders Luka Modric and Mateo Kovacic, and winger Ivan Perisic will be the ones to watch out for next week.

Croatia predicted lineup vs Czech Republic

Croatia predicted lineup vs Czech Republic: (4-2-3-1): Livakovic; Stanisic, Sutalo, Caleta-Car, Gvardiol; Modric, Kovacic; Perisic, Baturina, Kramaric; Budimir.

Czech Republic Team News

The Czech Republic, ranked 39th in the FIFA rankings, know they won’t be able to compete on level footing with Croatia, who sit 11th. However, they can still aim for some sort of equanimous result. 

For this, the visitors have to invert their wings on every possible occasion and overload one side of their attack. They can fool Croatia into thinking that only one of their opponents’ wings is cruising through with attack, while the other is left relatively undisturbed. 

Czech Republic can then ask one of their fullbacks to bomb forward in the empty wing area and assist his colleagues with crosses and passes in the final third. These kinds of chess match-like tactics will be on offer, and the visiting side will be pleased they don’t have any serious injury concerns in their team.

Czech Republic predicted lineup vs Croatia

Czech Republic predicted lineup vs Croatia: (4-2-3-1): Kovar; Coufal, Zima, Krejci, Zeleny; Cerv, Soucek; Cerny, Sulc, Provod; Schick.

Croatia vs Czech Republic Prediction

• Pick: Croatia to win
• Odds: 1.73 (22Bet)
• Score prediction: Croatia 2-1 Czech Republic

Croatia are clearly the better team on offer here, proven both by FIFA rankings and their strategies. They’ll be keen on making sure their passing game doesn’t get interrupted too much here, which will propel them towards victory. 

The Czech Republic, for their part, are not known for being defensively solid despite focusing on the wings. The hosts’ slow-burner approach of letting passes build before letting one slide through the lines could end up giving them a lead. Croatia have been unbeaten in their last three matches against the visitors.

Croatia vs Czech Republic Prediction, Betting Tip

• Pick: Total over two goals
• Odds: 1.44 (22Bet)

We expect to see a total of over two goals on Monday, with Croatia contributing to most of them. Two out of the last three matches played between these sides saw this happen, while the remaining encounter saw exactly two goals being scored. 

The home squad are known to be defensively solid, and their midfielders often drop deep to assist their defenders in times of need – this can go against the Czech Republic and prevent them from scoring many goals. 

Similarly, the hosts are not known to be heavy scorers against these opponents. If the visitors invert their wings, it’ll be all the more challenging for Croatia to score a good deal of goals when they meet.

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