JAKARTA - The Croatian national team closed the series of preparations for the 2026 World Cup with a 2-1 victory over Slovenia in an international friendly match at the Andelko Herjavec Stadium, Varazdin on Monday.
Two Croatian goals were scored by Luka Modric and Mario Pasalic, while Slovenia managed to equalize through Andraz Sporar.
This victory, as reported by Antara, was a positive response from Croatia after previously suffering a 0-2 defeat from Belgium in a friendly match.
Croatia dominated from the start of the match by taking the initiative of the attack. The support of the host public made them more in control of the ball and pressing the Slovenian defense.
However, the back line of the visiting team made a number of opportunities for Croatia to fail to score. Slovenia occasionally threatened through counterattacks, but also struggled to create dangerous opportunities.
Until the first half ended, both teams were still playing a draw without a goal.
The deadlock was finally broken six minutes after the break. In the 51st minute, Luka Modric led Croatia 1-0 after taking advantage of Ivan Perisic's pass.
Receiving the ball outside the penalty area, the veteran midfielder fired a horizontal shot into the lower left corner of the Slovenian goal that Jan Oblak could not reach.
The one-goal advantage made Croatia more confident in building an attack. However, Slovenia, who started playing more openly, managed to provide resistance and several times threatened Dominik Livakovic's goal.
Slovenia's efforts bore fruit in the 83rd minute. Sporar managed to equalize the score to 1-1 after taking advantage of Martin Baturina's mistake.
Baturina tried to send a response to Livakovic, but the ball was successfully cut off by Sporar. The Slovenian striker then dribbled into the penalty area before defeating Livakovic in a one-on-one duel.
When the match seemed to be tied, Croatia managed to score the winning goal in the 90th +3 minute. Mario Pasalic emerged as a hero after scoring a goal that ensured Vatreni won 2-1.
The goal also closed Croatia's last friendly match with a positive result before appearing at the 2026 World Cup.
Furthermore, Zlatko Dalic's team will shift focus to the 2026 World Cup, where they are in Group L with England, Ghana, and Panama.
Croatia: Dominik Livakovic; Josip Stanisic, Martin Erlic, Marin Pongracic, Josko Gvardiol; Luka Modric (Mario Pasalic 57'), Mateo Kovacic (Petar Sucic 46'); Mario Pasalic, Andrej Kramaric (Martin Baturina 46'), Ivan Perisic (Nikola Vlasic 65'); Ante Budimir (Igor Matanovic 46').
Slovenia: Jan Oblak; Erik Janza, Vanja Drkusic, Jaka Bijol (David Brekalo 65'), Zan Karnicnik; Sandi Lovric, Adam Gnezda Cerin, Zan Begic (Matko Matko 64'), Zan Karnicnik; Arnel Jakupovic Sturm, Zan Vipotnik (Andraz Sporar 64').
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
