Croatia tries to avoid early elimination against Ghana in the World Cup
Croatia and Ghana enter the field this Saturday (27) in the final round of Group L of the World Cup with their destinies in their own hands. A draw could be enough to guarantee both teams' qualification for the round of 32, and everything indicates that the match will feature few goals.
Ghana occupies second place in the group, tied with leader England, both with four points. Croatia appears right behind, with three points, but is already certain that it will not finish in last place after beating Panama, bottom of the group and still without scoring.
The Croatians know, however, that finishing with just three points - especially with a negative goal difference - may not be enough to secure one of the eight places allocated to the best third-placed teams in the knockout stage. Therefore, the team does not intend to depend on combinations of results.
Both teams beat Panama 1-0. The difference is that, while Croatia debuted with a 4-2 defeat to England, Ghana managed a goalless draw against the English and were in a privileged position in the fight for classification.
Aging generation worries Croatia
Third-placed in the 2022 World Cup, Croatia arrives four years later with an older squad and performances that have caused concern for coach Zlatko Dalic.
The coach classified the defeat to England as the worst defensive performance due to dead balls in his nine years in charge of the national team. He was also not satisfied with his performance in the narrow victory over Panama.
Now, his team will face a defensively solid Ghanaian team, which managed to neutralize the English attack and showed progress after a less than encouraging preparation for the tournament.
Ghana reached the World Cup after losing four consecutive matches after qualifying, a sequence that culminated in the dismissal of coach Otto Addo.
His replacement, Carlos Queiroz, had little time to work. The coach took charge of just one friendly match before the start of the World Cup, but, in his fifth consecutive participation in World Cups, he managed to return to the team the defensive consistency shown during the Qualifiers, when they conceded just six goals in ten games.
Few goals on the horizon
The expectation is for a very tight match. Ghana failed to get any shots on target during the first half of their previous two games, and Queiroz is unlikely to adopt a risky stance knowing that a draw guarantees, at the very least, second place in the group.
Croatia, in turn, finished fewer times than Panama in the last round victory, although they managed to keep their defense without conceding goals for the first time in eight matches.
The Croatians still have a strategic advantage: they will enter the field after the end of the disputes in nine of the 12 groups in the competition. With this, they will have a clearer vision of what it will take to advance to the round of 32.
How the 16th round phase works, new in the 2026 World Cup knockout stage
Source: CNN