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Football.ua presents the announcement of the League of Nations match.
Sept. 05, 2020, 7 a.m.
After a long hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, national teams are returning to the field to start a new Nations League draw. In the first round, Portugal and Croatia will face each other, who are in Group A along with France and Sweden.
Portugal – Croatia
Saturday, 5 September, 21:45. Porto, Dragau stadium. Referee – Davide Massa (Italy). Live stream on TK Football two.
Portugal and Croatia have lately ranked among those national teams from which many expect a little more than they really are. Fernando Santos’ pupils in the status of reigning European champion gave Ukraine the first place in the group within the qualification for Euro 2020, while this result is largely due to the defeat in Kiev with a score of 2: one.
The ‘ladies’, in turn, after the sensational final of the 2018 World Cup, began a natural decline, because most of the leaders were already senior players, and restructuring in the team could not be avoided.
As for the next matchup, Santos summoned all the key players of the national team, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Bernardo Silva, João Moutinho, while he decided to renew the squad with new players: 26-year-old Granada goalkeeper Rui Silva and forward from Barcelona Francisco Trincan, 20 years old.
In the Croatian national team the situation is a bit opposite, since the leaders of the center of the midfield in the person of Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic are absent from the list of announced players. The also experienced Nikola Kalinic and Mario Mandzhukic will not help Dalic’s team in attack.
It should be noted that the Portuguese have not lost in any of their five games against the Croats. After four Portuguese victories in September 2018, Faro ended in a 1-1 draw. So the fight was friendly in character, and in the entire history of the confrontation between these teams, Croatia never managed to leave the field without conceding a ball.
The coaches say:
Fernando Santos, coach of the Portuguese team: “In these matches of the League of Nations we will try to win. But at the same time we will take the opportunity to try something before EURO 2021. Now I have called two debutants.” [Руя Силву и Тринкана]I’ll probably call more next time so we can build a team for the European Championship. “
Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic: “You will not find more difficult opponents. For three days we will play against European and world champions. We respect Portugal and France, but we have many trump cards, and we will definitely try to break the negative streak in matches with these teams. Results in the League The nations are of great importance, but the priority is the health of the players and the preparation for the World Cup qualification and for EURO 2020 ”.
Approximate compositions:
Portugal: Patricio – Semedu, Pepe, Diaz, Guerreiro – Neves, Pereira, Moutinho, Bernardo Silva, Fernandes – Felish.
Croatia: Livakovic – Edvai, Vida, Lovren, Barisic – Brozovic, Kovacic, Palasic – Rebic, Petkovic, Perisic.
2: 1 prognosis
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