Italy v Croatia Group C Second Round 11:00am CST ESPN2/espn3

overgrown, dry grass match again? inquiring minds want to know.

Excited for this. Winner would likely assure at least 2nd place in the group.

I'm worried that Croatia will use their experienced strikers to take advantage of De Rossi's inexperience on the back line.

Spain allowed De Rossi to mainly sit back and defend dribblers which played to his strength rather than have to read alternating runs and work the offsides tap.


However, I think Cassano/Balotelli/Di Natali will have a ton of chances against Croatia, we'll see if they can finish them.

It seems like Prandelli will keep the 3-5-2 formation but maybe with a couple of personnel changes.


This is the group of DLPs. First Pirlo vs Xavi and now Modric. However, I did think the Xavi/Pirlo tended to negate each other's presence to some degree with most of the attacks generating wider.

quote:

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What will Mario do today?

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There's been some conjecture he'll not start but I think/hope he will. He's a nightmare matchup for Croatia's CBs.

I hope Prandelli saves Di Natali's pace and clever runs for another sub appearance.

Just noticed I'm in first place in the Tigerdroppings Euro Tournament predictor thingy. I knew I was intelligent but I even shock myself sometimes.

I got this one as a 1-1 draw.

Battle of who can light more flares

Someone needs to turn that pic into a "deal with it" gif with the sunglasses going on the at the bottom.


BTW, Swagotelli will start.

ETA: 2-1 Motherland

Mario starting again?

ETA: yeah, I didn't read the thread first, should've known it would be discussed.

Like a Croatia home game and they are whistling during the Italy national anthem