Iceland vs. Croatia: 2018 World Cup live

7: New look of Croatia

If you miss the red and white checkered classic jerseys from Croatia, take a look at these. They are black and deep, dark blue checkers.

6: Croatia in play

Good control of the ball by Croatia early, but it shows little urgency to put the ball to the net. Iceland is going to need some possession before even thinking about scoring.

Start!

Croatia in black, Iceland in white.

The motivation of Croatia

There is some incentive for Croatia to fight for at least one draw, which would allow it to win the group. The winner of the group will face Denmark. The finalist will face a more difficult opponent, France.

Iceland must become aggressive

Iceland has only one goal up here at the World Cup, but must attack today. In addition to winning, he must win by a few goals to increase his chances of advancement. Alfred Finnbogason is the leading man for Iceland, but the most important could be Gylfi Sigurdsson of Everton, who plays right behind him. These two players must connect successfully to get Iceland on the scoresheet.

The starting schedule of Croatia

Goalkeeper: 12 Lovre Kalinic (Gent)

Defenders: 5 Vedran Corluka (Lokomotiv Moscow), 22 Josip Pivaric (Dynamo Kiev), 13 Tin Jedvaj (Bayer Leverkusen), 15 cars Duje Caleta (Red Bull Salzburg)

Midfielders: 10 Luka Modric (Real Madrid), 8 Mateo Kovacic (Real Madrid), 19 Milan Badelj (Fiorentina)

Attackers: 4 Ivan Perisic (Inter Milan), 9 Andrej Kramaric (Hoffenheim), 20 Marko Pjaca (Juventus)

Croatia thus plays its main role, Luka Modric, but other big names are resting, including Ivan Rakitic and Ante Rebic. Remember that with two wins, Croatia is assured of progress even if it loses.

The starting schedule of Iceland

Goalkeeper: 1 Hannes Thor Halldorsson (Randers FC)

Defenders: 2 Birkir Saevarsson (Valur), 5 Sverrir Ingason (FC Rostov), ​​18 Hordur Magnusson (Bristol City), 2 Ragnar Sigurdsson (FC Rostov)

Midfielder: Johann Gudmundsson (Burnley), 8 Birkir Bjarnason (Aston Villa), 20 Emil Hallfredsson (Udinese), 10 Gylfi Sigurdsson (Everton), 17 Aron Gunnarsson (City of Cardiff)

Foreheads: 11 Alfred Finnbogason (Augsburg)

Iceland and Croatia Top Story Lines

• Iceland is the only team in the tournament that has not received yellow cards (Croatia has 6). He also has the fewest shots blocked in the tournament, only 2 (Croatia has 6).

• Croatia has advanced. He will win the group unless he loses to Iceland and Nigeria beats Argentina, and the combined margin is five goals or more.

• Croatia have just won a superb 3-0 win over Argentina. Overall, he scored five goals and dropped none. It's the only team in the tournament that has yet dropped a goal.

• Midfielder Luka Modric scored in both matches, making him the only Croatian player with more than one goal. His overall performance has led many to call the tournament's best player up here. He is not outdone at Real Madrid, helping the team to lead three consecutive champions leagues.

• These two teams met in qualifying for the World Cup. Iceland sank 2-0 in Zagreb and won 1-0 in Reykjavik. Iceland won the group by 2 points, but Croatia has qualified for the Cup with a playoff victory over Greece.

OPEN Graphic

• The qualifying scenario of Iceland is complicated. First, he must defeat Croatia today. But it is not enough. He must hope for one of two results of the other match: Argentina wins against Nigeria, but no further than Iceland's victory; or Nigeria pulling Argentina, as long as Iceland wins by two or three goals (the exact number depends on the number of goals scored in the draw between Nigeria and Argentina).

The short version is that Iceland must win, preferably by a few goals.

• Iceland has only one goal in the first two games, by Alfred Finnbogason, an Augsberg striker in Germany. He gave up three goals.

• Croatia is a close favorite on Iceland in this game.

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