Topic: ⚽ UEFA Nations League final four ⚽ - page 12. (Read 1527 times)

There were just four teams left. Netherland and Croatia played yesterday. It was a very thrilling game. The Netherlands took the leads first but Croatia equalized and took the lead later own. It stayed that way till the last minute of normal time before Netherland equalized.
The game pretty much belonged to Croatia in extra time where they scored 2 more goals and the game ended  4-2 in favor of Croatia.
That means, Croatia are waiting for whoever qualifies between Spain and Italy (the other two teams left in the competition).
.I'm tipping Spain to win this game. Spain play with more rhythm. Their only problem is that they lack goal scorers. 

I hope so as well. If they win the Nations League trophy at the end then I would have more faith in Modric to continue with the national team. I would really like to see him in Euro 2024 if they get past the qualifiers without problem. Because Modric is still the backbone of Croatia midfield. It wouldn't be easy to find an alternative to him who can play as good as him. There aren't so many alternatives to him in the current squad now.

Modric is actually keen on continuing his career for at least one more year with Real Madrid. Maybe he can think the same for the national team as well.

What do you think about today's game Spain - Italy? To me, it looks completely random. The bookies rank Spain as a slight favourite, but Spain's overall chance of winning in regular time is well below 50%. I'm not even sure about BTTS, it's possible that the game will end 0-0 in regular time.
Whoever wins today I hope Croatia wins the final - Spain and Italy already have enough titles and Croatia has stopped too often on the verge of victory. This would be fair in my opinion.

The reason I wasn't surprised was because even though the Netherlands managed to hold Croatia to a draw in normal time, they still lost in overtime in the end. There wasn't much that the Dutch could do, even to score 1 additional goal they struggled. On the other hand, Croatia appeared full of energy even though the score was still the same and they managed to finish the game with a two goal difference.

Modric is like a wonderkid at his current age and no one would have thought that for just one of the semifinal matches he would still have quite a lot of stamina until the game was over. He managed to widen the gap with the closing goal in the match and that made him add to his collection of goals for Croatia. I also hope the same thing that Modric will win the Nations League this season with Croatia and at the age when it is time to retire from the Croatian national team he should at least get this title.

Croatia has managed to surprise the world with their performances. In the first half, the Dutch showcased their dominance, but Croatia proved their worth and confirmed their place in the final. The match itself was interesting, as the Dutch underestimated the strength of the Croatian team and ultimately suffered a defeat. Throughout the game, Modric consistently displayed his leadership qualities. Modric still rocking at this stage of his career, and continues to shine for his national team. No doubt, Modric era will be remembered as the greatest team of Croatian football. Anyway, following today's win Croatia make entry into the UEFA Nations League final, and it would be exciting to witness a thrilling face-off between Spain and Croatia in the finals.

You just shouldn't let the game end beyond regular time if you are playing against Croatia. Otherwise this happens.    But I must add a fact that Croatia played the second half much stronger than the first one. That comeback was really lovely. They could have even finished the game right there but Lang gained another chance for his team by a last-minute goal.

But the situation was still under control for Croatia. They really like these times when we look at their history also. Modric was like the star of extra time by a goal and an assist.    Petkovic was nearly scoring even their 5th goal if there wasn't offside. Really solid effort by Croatia. I never expected such result honestly.

He’s not just still playing, he’s starring in games. People talk about Xavi and Iniesta but Modric has 5 x Champions League winners medals, 3 x La Liga winners medals, he won Ballon D’or. He’s one of the greatest midfield players of the last 30 years. I don’t think he gets enough credit.

How can you not be so surprised to see the results in this match, apart from Croatia which has had good performances in recent years, but the Netherlands is a very strong team, they should not have lost this match.


This surprised me, how can Luka Modric who is already 37 years old, still play full time . In addition, he also became a hero for Croatia in this match with a penalty he scored in the 116th minute. Well, hopefully they can get at least 1 trophy this year, moreover it is estimated that Modric will not be able to take part in the next WC.

You're welcome, I hope you find useful information, and it turned out that this time the media was right about line-ups.


My bet went through, both teams scoring a goal and 3+ goals in the game seemed like a gift.


I honestly thought that this time it would not be extra time and in fact it should not have happened that the football referee extended the match max 4 minutes and not even 6. Of course, this is not an excuse for the complete confusion that prevailed in those minutes when it came to Croatia, but they obviously cannot do without real drama.

However, the redemption came in extra time when Croatia played great and when head coach Dalic introduced Bruno Petkovic who scored a great goal, and for those who do not remember something similar he did in the match against Brazil in Qatar.

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No matter how the game ends tonight, we're expecting a great game of the finals on Sunday. I'm hoping that Croatia will come out of this game as a winner, because these guys definitely deserve it. And as for the bookmakers, let them just underestimate Croatia again, I don't mind the high odds

Oh! Nice... I was talking with my bro about the UEFA nations league. I remembered that it wasn't finished then. They were pausing and restarting the league.  I cannot even remember many things bout the league. The most thing I can remember is France was not taking the league seriously then
 They will bench all their star players including Kylian Mbappe and after they start loosing they will be introducing them. I am sure France was eliminated then. Good that I have seen football to watch for the mean time before seasons starts.
Please who has the remaining fixtures so that I will know how to watch.

Croatia beat Netherlands 4-2 at De Kuip Stadium. 4-2 defeat does not mean that the match was not good. Both teams performed well. Towards the end of the game it looked like Croatia might win as the Netherlands trailed by one goal until the 96th minute. But at the very end of extra time Lang scored the second goal for the Netherlands to bring the team back on level terms. As the result of the match was not decided at full time, the match referee decided to extend some more time and Croatia managed to score two more goals in the second extra time. And Croatia scored two goals in the extra time to secure a 4-0 win for the team.  

Luka Modrić's game looked like he could have played another 90 minutes. Luka Modrić might forget he's 38 when he plays.  However, we saw a great match from Croatia.

He is obviously top fit and at an impressive level physically. Going almost 120 minutes and then also get the trust of his players to safely score that penalty is a serious statement about him. If he stays an integral part of that team and is even entrusted with deciding crucial moments like that penalty, there isn't much speaking against Modric going for another three years and perhaps even play another World Cup. First of all he will play the upcoming EURO for sure and then they will go from there and see, but it would be no shocker if he is still around in three years from now.

That was a smart bet since game could have gone in both direction in early stages. Croatia once again proved that they can keep focus and discipline for 120min and that's what is important in those kind of games. I think they have a good chance to win this on Sunday.

Yesterday I bet on both teams to score and total >2.5... I managed to win and for that reason I shut the game down in the final minutes... Now I found out that the Netherlands were able to score the second return goal just in that time... I really wish I had watched the match till the end... The pensioners were able to prove that they are still in the fight...

I was absolutely stunned by the Croatian team performance, it was very ruthless especially during the final 30 minutes of extra time, because I couldn't follow the game from the regular time, but when I got back from my daily routine and I saw the score line was even with 2 goals apiece, I suspected we could be in some drama down the stretch of the extra 30 minutes, and it turned out that I was not wrong after all, the Netherlands got totally exposed at the back and there could have easily been as many as 4-5 goal within those 30 minutes, Just when I thought Luka Modric have had his last dance in the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, it seems he's just not done yet, well deserved recognition he got from the fans and even Ronald Koeman the Dutch coach also showed him a great gesture too.

Croatia won because of a very good performance towards the end. But I noticed during the full time game that the two teams were often evenly matched but the Dutch attack was a bit more. Croatia attack more quickly than the Netherlands which is mostly counter attack. Meanwhile, Croatia showed a very good performance in extra time and the result was Croatia victory. In particular, Luka Modric scored a last-gasp goal to finish the match and he has tried in the past without success. Croatia performed very well throughout the game and at the end their pace was one of the best.

The results were not too surprising, however, Croatia has been better than the Netherlands in recent years and even though the match was tied at 2-2 in 90 minutes, Croatia managed to get rid of the Netherlands in extra time. Luka Modric was so outstanding that he even played the full 120 minutes at the age of almost 38 and it was evident that his stamina was endless in such a fierce game. Victory 2-4 in extra time was very important for croatia to get them into the nations league final this year and now they just have to wait to see who their next opponent will be in the final whether it be italy or spain, let's see.

He played long into the second half of the Extra time when the Croatian manager already knew they had the better chance of winning the game. No need to risk him further since he is old, they are heading to a final and will need him to win the UEFA Nation's league cup. He had an assist and a goal from a penalty. He loves playing in the National team, he will not decide to retire now. Croatia will be preparing to face either Italy or Spain, and with how well they played today, any team that is going to play them in the final need to take this game as a warning.

honestly when i saw these odds i thought it was very absurd to consider holland as a favorite especially when you saw the performance of holland in the world cup and croatia in the world cup, for me i will repeat what i said weeks ago:

I don't see Holland as superior to Croatia

which has a good team and much better organization in defense, and it's true that many good teams haven't played well in these UEFA Nations League games, maybe because it's a competition in which it doesn't have much importance and how teams need their players so national team coaches spare players in that competition and that's why I haven't been watching these UEFA Nations League games, the last time I watched a UEFA Nations League game it was a French game they were playing very bad

So that's when I realized that Franca who was on the field even with her good players weren't making an effort because they were saving up for the world cup and local league games, that's why I don't bet on those UEFA Nations League games, but even so holland has problems, they are not that good team of years ago, they have serious problems in the defense, and now with Koeman as coach, I just hope that he doesn't transform the netherlands too much and fall like he did in barcelona, because he has problems with players old ones, has the thought of rejuvenating the team but does it in a radical and harmful way

Modric is in great shape even after such a tough season. How much strength does he have 
By the way, as I understand it, if Croatia lost today, then we would know Modric's decision regarding the national team - he said that he had already made a decision, but would publish it after the League of Nations. I hope he doesn't retire from the national team this summer.