Croatia on the brink of Exit after shambolic 2-2 draw against Albania

Croatia’s Golden Generation is on the verge of saying goodbye to world football after dazzling on the world stage for quite a long time and on so many occasions.

A team led by the imperious Luca Modric has seen it all at major tournaments in recent years as they reached the finals of the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in Russia.

In the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Croatia was eliminated by Lionel Messi’s Argentina and settled for a third-place finish.

The backbone of the team has broken as they don’t have the legs to run for the team anymore.

In the midfield against Albania, Zlatko Dalic fielded a midfield with a combined age of 99 years. Modric (38), Brozovic (31) and Kovacic (30) snd they were not up to the high intensity of Albania’s energetic midfield.

Albania scored first in the 11th minute through Laci Qazim.

Albania never looked like the underdogs after going all out even when they were up by a goal.

Andre Kramaric equalised in the 72nd minute for Croatia. Substitute
Klaus Gjasula scored an own goal to give Croatia a 2-1 lead. When Croatia thought they had won their first game in the competition, Gjasula who scored an own goal struck in the 95th minute to level the game 2-2 for Albania.

The minnows will take the 2-2 draw as a victory because many thought they were going to be the whipping boys in the group.

Croatia must beat Italy in their last game of the group to stand any chance of progressing to the knockout stage while Albania also must at all costs beat Spain to stand any chance of qualifying.