Croatia v England preview: Tuchel warns his side not to fall asleep in Rijeka

Croatia v England in Rijeka this evening is a straight shootout for second place in Nations League A Group C, with both sides on three points and Spain already clear at the top.

Main photo: Драган Јањушевић / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Kick-off at Stadion Rujevica is 5pm UK time. German referee Sven Jablonski takes charge.

Thomas Tuchel’s side arrive after a tidy 2-0 win in Prague on Tuesday, when Anthony Gordon struck early in the second half and Harry Kane added a second midway through it. That steadied things after a 3-2 home defeat by Spain at Wembley opened the campaign. Tuchel picked his squad for that double-header in a selection we covered when England named 23 for the Spain showdown.

Croatia v England: team news

England have lost Nico O’Reilly, who has left the camp for treatment. Tuchel said the rest of the group trained fully on Friday, and he was pleased that the three-day gap since the Czechia game gave high-intensity players such as Elliot Anderson and Gordon time to recover.

Croatia are now led by Slaven Bilić. Their campaign has swung both ways: a 2-1 win in Prague on matchday one, then a 4-1 hammering by Spain in Seville on Tuesday, when Dion Drena Beljo scored their only goal. Luka Modrić and Mateo Kovačić are expected to anchor the midfield again.

Tuchel: “We cannot fall asleep”

England have spent the week on the Adriatic coast, and Tuchel admitted the setting is unusually pleasant. He warned his players not to switch off, describing tonight as a crucial Nations League game that feels like a cup tie.

The atmosphere will be strange. Rujevica is a compact ground, and Tuchel said crowds will be minimal because of UEFA sanctions, comparing the conditions to a pre-season friendly. He insisted his players must stay professional regardless.

Head-to-head and form

England have had the better of this fixture recently. They beat Croatia 4-2 at the World Cup in June, and 1-0 at Euro 2020. Croatia’s famous 2-1 extra-time win in the 2018 World Cup semi-final in Moscow remains the sore spot, though England won the Nations League meeting at Wembley later that year.

Elsewhere this week, the big Nations League nights have kept coming, including the heavyweight clash covered in our France v Italy preview and the drama of Portugal’s 4-2 win in Denmark.

Group C	P	Pts	GF	GA
Spain	2	6	7	3
England	2	3	4	3
Croatia	2	3	3	5
Czechia	2	0	1	4

What is at stake

Spain host Czechia later tonight and are favourites to stretch their lead. That makes this a game neither side wants to lose: defeat would leave the loser three points off second with three to play, and England still have to travel to Spain in November.

For more on how Tuchel has handled big selection calls, our sister site DGBN has looked at Tuchel’s dilemmas over Bellingham and Saka.