Slovenia and Croatia Meet in Group H

Slovenia vs Croatia - 24/03/2021

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23/03/21

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There are several fixtures to look forward to on Wednesday the 23rd of March in UEFA World Cup qualifying, including the meeting between Slovenia and Croatia.

The match will be played at the Stadion Stožice and in addition to these two teams, Group H consists of Russia, Slovakia, Cyprus, and Malta.

Goal or No Goal? 🤔
🖥 #VAR 👀#SLOU21 🇸🇮 | #U21EURO | #ifeelsLOVEnia pic.twitter.com/rEQzX7ZgGY
— NZS | FA Slovenia (@nzs_si) March 22, 2021

Slovenia will be hoping to use home advantage to get off to a good start in their World Cup qualifying campaign.

You must go back to 2010 to find the last time Slovenia qualified for the World Cup and they were eliminated at the group stage having won only one of their 3 fixtures.

Slovenia come into this game on the back of an 8 match undefeated run, including Nations League and friendly games.

Slovenia have won 5 of those 8 fixtures but in truth, the level of the opposition has been poor as there have been wins over Moldova (twice), San Marino, and Kosovo (twice). There have also been two draws against Greece and one against Azerbaijan.

Home form shows Slovenia are undefeated in 11 of their last 12 matches. That run includes victories over Poland and Israel during the 2020 European Championship qualifiers.

They are also undefeated at home in each of their last 7 home World Cup qualifying games, including matches against Slovakia, England, and Scotland.

Trends show Slovenia have kept a clean sheet in 4 of their last 5 home World Cup qualifying games.

Croatia are the favourites to win this group and they will be keen to stamp their authority on Group H with an away victory in the opening round of fixtures.

Croatia reached the final of the 2018 World Cup and to achieve something similar in 2022 would be a fantastic achievement.

Croatia have participated in five of the last six World Cup finals but come into this match having failed to win any of their last 4 games.

There have been defeats against France, Sweden, and Portugal in the Nations League plus a draw away from home against Turkey in a friendly.

Away form shows Croatia have been struggling to win games and they have picked up only 2 victories from their 13 most recent fixtures on the road.

During their last World Cup qualifying campaign, Croatia kept a clean sheet in 4 of their 6 away matches but also failed to score in 3 of their last 4 games.

Team news and Slovenia can call up an experienced goalkeeper in Jan Oblak. Josip Iličić will be expected to provide the attacking threat from midfield as there is not a great deal of goals among the strikers selected in the squad.

Croatia have plenty of experience in their squad including Domagoj Vida, Dejan Lovren, Luka Modrić, Mateo Kovačić, Milan Badelj, and Ivan Perišić.

There is no doubt Croatia have the greater quality in their squad but they come up against a Slovenia team who are strong at home.