These two teams clash after a World Cup campaign that has ushered in a new era for both of them.<\/p>\n
Portugal were eliminated by Uruguay at the round of 16 as they failed to build on their Euro 2016 success in France.<\/p>\n
They have witnessed some of their trusted names retire from International football, and Cristiano Ronaldo has asked not to be called for now as he considers international retirement, so Fernando Santos would be having a largely inexperienced group for this game.<\/p>\n
The Portuguese had a poor defence at the World Cup, but Pepe has stayed on the international scene and would be looking to usher in the new generation of international defenders, but this game would be a testing one for an untested defence.<\/p>\n
Croatian football is on the rise, and after they reached the final of the World Cup, the Blazers would be targetting winning Euro 2020, but the work starts now.<\/p>\n
Although some of their players have left the international scene, they have managed to hold on to the likes of Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic, and Ivan Perisic, so we expect a solid team for this game.<\/p>\n
Croatia dominated the match the last time these two teams met at Euro 2016, but Portugal still dumped them out on their way to winning the competition, the Croatians would consider this payback time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
These two teams clash after a World Cup campaign that has ushered in a new era for both of them. Portugal were eliminated by Uruguay at the round of 16 as they failed to build on their Euro 2016 success in France. They have witnessed some of their trusted names retire from International football, and Cristiano Ronaldo has asked not to be called for now as he considers international retirement, so Fernando Santos would be having a largely inexperienced group for this game. The Portuguese had a poor defence at the World Cup, but Pepe has stayed on the international scene and would be looking to usher in the new generation of international defenders, but this game would be a testing one for an untested defence. Croatian football is on the rise, and after they reached the final of the World Cup, the Blazers would be targetting winning Euro 2020, but the work starts now. Although some of their players have left the international scene, they have managed to hold on to the likes of Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic, and Ivan Perisic, so we expect a solid team for this game. Croatia dominated the match the last time these two teams met at Euro 2016, but Portugal still dumped them out on their way to winning the competition, the Croatians would consider this payback time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,123,157],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","category-football-prediction","category-match-preview"],"yoast_head":"\n