I still believe that Spain is overrated by bookmakers.

Croatia again proved everything to everyone by beating the Netherlands a few days ago. And they did it in a match with the hosts of the tournament. Despite the fact that the first missed and was forced to recoup, owning the ball - doing what he loves the least. They are the kings of tournaments through and through, which they demonstrated in a couple of previous world championships, where they flew out only following the results of matches with future champions - France and Argentina.

And Spain isn’t a Champions team. In winter made a very poor performance in the World Cup in Qatar, being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs after a 0-0 defeat against Morocco, on penalties. After that, the team did not become stronger in composition, but changed top coach Enrique to De la Fuente, a coach with zero experience in senior or top teams, only with Spain U19 and U21.

The squad is very poor, with many players from middle table or relegation teams, and only a few from the TOP ones. Some veterans who should be retired like Jesus Navas or Jordi Alba have been called because there are no replacements for them yet. Also Pedri, one of the best players in the team, is out due to an injury.

Croatia has only 1 defeat in the last 15 official matches, they also conceded 13 goals, excluding the fixture with Argentina - 10 conceded in 14 matches. This won’t be a problem for a team like Spain who has lacked goal for many years, due to the low quality of their strikers.

Croatia's center of defense is its weak point, but it won't even come to duels in that zone if Brozovic, Kovacic and Modric - one of the strongest midfield trio in modern football - gain control of the midfield.

A few days ago, against their background, the Dutch midfielders seemed clumsy, who did not know what to do with the ball in possession. The other day, the Spaniards defeated the Italians in an equal fight (2:1), but they won’t be able to win twice in a row only because of better implementation. And, as I wrote earlier, the players of the Spanish defense line are far from the top.

Croatia made great performances in the World Cup and in the Nations League, including the game against Netherlands. Spain, sometimes had good minutes of football, but were very lucky to beat Italy scoring in the last minutes of the game a lucky goal after a very tight and equal fixture.

The midfield will be the key of the match, as both teams will try to control it. And Spain due to the missing (Pedri), lack of quality and Croatia’s strength in that zone, won’t be able to control it. And Spain is a team who struggles a lot when they don't have the ball, as I think will happen in this match. Croatia is a much more competitive team and for me are even favorites to win the title.

该文章通过有道机器翻译，仅供参考:

我仍然相信西班牙被博彩公司高估了。

几天前，克罗地亚击败了荷兰队，再次向所有人证明了一切。他们在与东道主的比赛中做到了这一点。尽管第一个球丢了，不得不补上，但拥有球权——做着他最不喜欢的事情。他们一直是锦标赛之王，在之前的几届世界锦标赛上就证明了这一点，只有在与未来的冠军法国和阿根廷的比赛结果出来后，他们才能飞出去。

西班牙队也不是冠军球队。在冬季卡塔尔世界杯上表现非常糟糕，在点球大战中0-0输给摩洛哥，在季后赛第一轮就被淘汰出局。在那之后，球队的组成并没有变得更强，而是将顶级教练恩里克换成了德拉富恩特，一个没有任何高级或顶级球队经验的教练，只带过西班牙U19和U21。

球队阵容很差，很多球员来自中游或降级球队，只有少数球员来自顶级球队。一些应该退役的老兵，如杰苏斯·纳瓦斯或乔尔迪·阿尔巴，已经被召回，因为他们还没有替代者。此外，球队中最好的球员之一佩德里也因伤缺阵。

克罗地亚在最近的15场正式比赛中只输了1场，他们也丢了13个球，不包括与阿根廷的比赛——14场比赛丢了10个球。对于像西班牙这样的球队来说，这不是一个问题，因为他们多年来一直缺乏进球，因为他们的前锋质量不高。

克罗地亚的中卫是它的弱点，但是如果布罗佐维奇、科瓦契奇和莫德里奇——现代足球最强大的中场三人组之一——控制了中场，他们甚至不会在这个区域进行决斗。

几天前，在他们的背景下，荷兰队的中场似乎很笨拙，他们不知道如何处理控球。前几天，西班牙人在一场势均力敌的比赛中击败了意大利人(2:1)，但他们不可能仅仅因为更好的执行而连赢两场。而且，正如我之前所写的，西班牙防线上的球员远远不是顶尖的。

克罗地亚队在世界杯和国家联赛中表现出色，包括对阵荷兰队的比赛。西班牙队有时踢得很好，但在比赛的最后几分钟，他们非常幸运地击败了意大利队，在一场势均力敌的比赛之后，他们打进了一个幸运的进球。

中场将是这场比赛的关键，因为两支球队都将努力控制中场。西班牙队由于佩德里的缺阵，缺乏实力和克罗地亚在该区域的实力，将无法控制它。西班牙队在没有球权的时候会很挣扎，我认为这场比赛也会这样。克罗地亚是一支更有竞争力的球队，对我来说，他们甚至是夺冠的热门球队。

06月19日克罗地亚 VS 西班牙比赛分析直播