Iceland promise Croatia gruelling finish
Iceland defender Kari Arnason isn’t afraid to see red if it means stopping one of the World Cup’s most creative sides when it takes on Croatia today.
Both teams have a history of sending-offs when they meet, with three red cards handed out in their last four matches.
Arnason sees Croatia as one of the teams that could win the tournament, but the central defender’s teammates aren’t giving them a free ride and are promising gruelling physical challenges.
With the Croats already qualified, Iceland must win their final Group D game in Rostov-onDon, while keeping fingers crossed that Nigeria can’t inflict another defeat on Argentina.
Arnason, in fact, is taking inspiration from the spiky nature of Iceland-Croatia encounters.
“In those kind of games, players push themselves to the limit, and sometimes they go over the line,” Arnason said before the team headed to southern Russia. “A red card was shown to one of our players in those matches. We’re more than ready to take another one if it would help our team.”
Arnason thought it was unlikely that Argentina would finish their three group matches without victory but took little comfort in the prospect of Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic resting core players to avoid suspensions and fatigue.
STANDOUT TEAM
With many of the traditional favourites struggling, Croatia has emerged as a standout in Russia, thrashing Argentina 3-0 and defeating Nigeria 2-0.
Croatian goalkeeper Lovre Kalinic ruled out sitting back on Tuesday.
In their six encounters, Croatia has won four times, lost once. and drawn once.
Iceland is the nation with the smallest population ever to qualify for a World Cup, with some 350,000 inhabitants, but it stunned twotime champion Argentina in its opening match with a 1-1 draw thanks to Alfred Finnbogason’s equaliser. The team, known to Icelanders simply as “Our Boys,” lost the second match 2-0 to an irrepressible Nigeria. Coach Heimir Hallgrimsson said players took heart from having beaten Croatia at home in qualifying. “We know the scenario when we play Croatia: It’s going to be a really tough game,” he said. “We’ve often said we’re like a married couple. We’re trying to get divorced, but we always meet up again.”
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