Euro 2024: Croatia, Albania seek to bounce back in Group B clash
Croatia and Albania seek to bounce back from opening match losses in a Group B clash at Euro 2024 on Wednesday.
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CROATIA, ALBANIA SEEK TO BOUNCE BACK AFTER OPENING MATCH LOSSES
Two Balkan teams – Croatia and Albania – seek to bounce back after absorbing opening match losses when the teams collide at 3 pm local time (1300 GMT) in Hamburg, Germany.
Croatia is coming off a stinging 0-3 loss to Spain at the Olympiastadion in Berlin on Saturday.
Furthermore, Spain got goals from Alvaro Morata, Fabian Ruiz, and Dani Carvajal to bury Croatia in their opening weekend matchup.
Moreover, Albania made history by scoring the quickest goal in the tournament but still yielded a 1-2 loss to defending champion Italy.
Nedim Bajrami provided the lightning goal 23 seconds into the match but Albania failed to sustain the momentum.
Goals from Alessandro Bastoni and Nicolo Barella restored order for the defending champions to spoil Albania’s upset bid.
PATIENT APPROACH NEEDED TO GET PAST ALBANIA, SAYS CROATIAN COACH
Croatia will need to use a patient approach to get past Albania, says coach Zlatko Dalic.
“We knew this game would be very important even before the beginning of the tournament,” Dalic said at a press conference.
“The players are well aware of the situation we’re in, we have to be better tomorrow than we were in the first game,” he added.
The Croatia coach cited his team’s need to be “more offensive” and “go on attack” early to get past Albania.
Interestingly, this is the first time Croatia and Albania will face off in a competitive match.
Albania is playing in only its second European Championship.
However, Dalic and Croatia will have to win without midfielder Nikola Vlasic.
Vlasic was ruled out of the tournament with a muscle injury.
ALBANIA COACH TO RELY ON ‘YOUNG PLAYERS’ TO SUPRISE CROATIA
Albania coach Sylvinho will have to rely on his “young players” to surprise but admitted that it won’t be easy.
“It’s only our second time here in the Euros. We have young players, very good players, but it’s not easy,” the coach said.
“If you try to go toe-to-toe with them, they will score five or six against you,” he added.
Albania reached this far after the team topped their qualifying group ahead of the Czech Republic and Poland.
Sylvinho’s men absorbed their first competitive loss to Italy for the first time since March 2023 when they lost to Poland, 0-1.
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