England v Croatia UEFA Nations League Preview

England welcome Croatia to play the final and decisive match in Group 6 of League A. Who would have thought that these two teams would be battling it out for the top spot in the Group? certainly not Spain having won 6-0 against Croatia and 2-1 away to England to top the Group after the first two games.

Now Spain can only watch and hope that this game ends in a draw, since any other result will deny them qualification to the finals. But who will win this match? England must be slight favourites playing at home but Croatia are a top team, the 6-0 loss to Spain was a freak in my view, a hangover of sorts from their World Cup exploits.

England come into this game fresh from a 3-0 home win against the USA in a International friendly match that saw Wayne Rooney pick up his 120th England Cap. Croatia come to Wembley hot off a 3-2 win against Group leaders Spain, a result that now means any of the 3 teams can now finish in top spot, Spain can not get relegated though, that will be scant consolation for them however.

Gareth Southgate has a full squad to select from and will make a lot of changes from the team that played against the USA, its pretty straightforward for Southgate, he has to play for a win and I think he will not shy away from playing an attacking line up. Past England managers have been too conservative for my liking, but not Southgate.

Croatia will be in the same boat, they know only a win will do to top the Group and I don't think either side will be too much worried about relegation, they won't want to be relegated of course but I don't think that is going to play into this match too much, I fully expect both sides to go for the win and it should be a good match to watch.

Verdict

I think England will win this and gain revenge for the defeat by Croatia in the semi finals of the World Cup earlier this year. Its seems a long time ago that World Cup exit, but many of the English players will have not forgotten it and will want to make amends. My prediction is 2-0 to England, with Harry Kane getting on the score sheet to take England on to the finals of the UEFA Nations League.