Emotions will be high when Australia and Croatia meet on Thursday to decide who joins Brazil in the second round of the World Cup.
OEHRINGEN: Emotions will be high when Australia and Croatia meet on Thursday in a tantalizing Group F match that will almost certainly decide who joins Brazil in the second round of the World Cup.
The advantage is with Australia, who are striving to get through to the second stage for the first time. A victory in Stuttgart will guarantee them a place in the last 16 while they can also get through with a draw, as long as Japan do not beat Brazil by three goals.
Equation is even simpler for Croatia. Semi-finalists in 1998 but no longer the force they were eight years ago, they must win to stay alive in the competition.
Thursday’s match was looming as the decisive one in the group when the draw was announced earlier this year and everything points to an even contest that could go either way.
They have similar personnel and styles of playing, and are bonded by ancestral links -seven of Australia’s players, including captain Mark Viduka, have Croatian parents, while three of the Croats were raised in Australia.
Croatia started the competition as favourites to go through with Brazil. They beat Australia 7-0 when they last played, in 1998, although much has changed since then. Croatia were hugely impressive in their opening match when they lost 1-0 to world champions Brazil but lost their way against Japan, finishing with a scoreless draw after blowing a series of chances, including a penalty.
Coach Zlatko Kranjcar has been forced to rearrange his defence after stopper Robert Kovac was suspended, with Stjepan Tomas playing right back and Dario Simic shifting in. Australia have been impressive in their first two games. They came from behind to beat Japan 3-1, with all three goals coming in the last eight minutes, then gave as good as they got against Brazil before going down 2-0.
Their Dutch coach Guus Hiddink, who took Netherlands then Korea to the semi-finals of the last two World Cups, has again been a shrewd tactician, orchestrating moves like a grandmaster, flooding midfield and ordering his players to attack in waves. But, like the Croatians, Australia also have problems even though the mood in the camp remains upbeat.
Defender Tony Popovic has been ruled out with a calf strain and winger Harry Kewell was lucky to escape a ban for verbally abusing German referee Markus Merk after the Brazil match.
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