Croatia has one foot in the 2018 World Cup in Russia after a spectacular performance in the first leg of their UEFA qualifying playoff against Greece. The Croats only took 13 minutes to score and never looked back, dominating from start to finish to claim a 4-1 victory.

The opener came from a penalty, off a massive error by Greek goalkeeper Orestis Karnezis. He took a poor touch under minimal pressure, gifting possession to Nikola Kalinić, then chopped down the Croatian striker. Luka Modrić scored the resulting spot kick.

Six minutes later, Kalinić got on the scoreboard himself. Greece lost its shape in midfield, allowing Ivan Strinić a free run down the left flank. He drilled a low cross towards the near post, and Kalinić redirected it into the back of the net.

Sokratis Papastathopoulos gave his team some hope with an away goal in the 30th minute, scoring off a corner with a perfect looping header. But Croatia reestablished its multiple-goal advantage instantly in similar fashion to its previous goal, just from the opposite side. Right back Šime Vrsaljko was the provider, swinging a cross to the far post, and Ivan Perišic nodded an uncontested header past Karnezis.

Croatia’s fourth goal was gifted to them by Konstantinos Stafylidis just after halftime. He tried to chest the ball back to Karnezis inside of his own box, but it only got as far as Kalinić, who touched it to Andrej Kramarić for an easy finish.

Greece nearly made the tie a lot more interesting with a goalmouth scramble in the 87th minute, but Zeca and Kostas Mitroglou both failed to get their close-range chances over the goal line.

Croatia: Subašić; Strinić, Vida, Lovren, Vrsaljko, Brozović, Rakitić, Modrić, Perišić, Kalinić, Kramarić

Goals: Modrić (pen 13’), Kalinić (19’), Perišić (33’), Kramarić (49’)

Greece: Karnezis; Tzavellas, Sokratis, Papadopoulos, Stafylidis, Samaris, Tziolis, Zeca, Maniatis, Fortounis, Mitroglou

Goals: Sokratis (30’).

 

3 things we learned

Greece had the right idea, but terrible execution

Croatia has some of the best central midfielders in the world and often controls that area of the pitch. Greece packed the center with four midfielders to outnumber Croatia’s three, let them have the flanks, then had three central defenders in the middle to deal with any resulting crosses. This tactic made sense, but didn’t work in practice.

Greece’s midfielders, despite their numerical advantage, didn’t close down Croatia’s midfielders aggressively enough. The Greek wingbacks were given a tough job, but offered absolutely no resistance out wide. And when crosses came in, the Greek defenders couldn’t clear them despite having size and numbers. Croatia was gifted its goals.

Real Madrid will be happy to see this Luka Modrić

Los Merengues have gotten off to a rough start this season, with Modrić looking like he might finally be slowing down. But he was the clear man of the match in this game, completely dominating the center of the pitch in all phases of play. Zinedine Zidane will be hoping Modrić can carry that form over to Real Madrid.

An away goal means this tie isn’t over, but …

It’s tough to see Greece scoring three times. While Sokratis’ header to grab an away goal was brilliant, the Greek attack created almost nothing from open play. It’s not clear how they can change their tactics to generate more shots without completely opening themselves up defensively. At this point, it would be stunning if Croatia failed to qualify for the World Cup.