On March 23rd, a pair of teams heading to the World Cup will first make a stop in Miami. Peru and Croatia will go head-to-head as they look to get their squads together for this summer in Russia.
What To Know About Croatia
Croatia needed a play-off as they finished second in their group, and then they killed off their two-legged play-off with Greece in the first match at home as they won 4-1. Luka Modric scored from the penalty spot, while Nikola Kalinic, Ivan Perisic and Andrej Kramaric added singles for Croatia, who drew 0-0 in Greece. Mario Mandzukic scored five goals to lead the way for Croatia, who scored 15 and allowed four in qualification. However, midfield is Croatia’s strongest area with the likes of Modric, Perisic, Ivan Rakitic and Marcelo Brozovic. If everyone goes into the World Cup healthy, manager Zlatko Dalic can say that he has one of the strongest midfield in Russia and if you can keep up in that part of the pitch, you’ll always have a good chance to win. This is a team that you should really look hard at their odds this summer, even if it is just to go to the semifinals. Croatia will be grouped with Argentina, Iceland and Nigeria, and winning that group isn’t out of the question.
What To Know About Peru
Peru finished fifth in their qualification confederation, and then went on to play New Zealand over two legs in a play-off. They drew 0-0 in New Zealand and then won 2-0 at home thanks to goals from Jefferson Farfan and Christian Ramos. Peru are an exciting team to watch as they scored 27 goals in qualification, but allowed 26 and that is something that manager Ricardo Gareca might want to rein in before they head to Russia. Midfielderr Christian Cueva led the team with four goals and at 26, he would like to make the World Cup his coming-out party as he plays for Sao Paulo in Brazil. However, a few good games in Russia and Cueva could find himself in Europe. However, Peru really has to improve at the back if they’re going to compete in a group with France, Australia and Denmark.
Outlook
The odds will be close for this game at a neutral site, especially as these are two talented teams that are looking to prepare for the World Cup. Peru and Croatia have never met before, so there could be a lot of feeling out between the two. Also, don’t expect the best players on both teams to play 90 minutes as many of them have a lot of club obligations to deal with and their international managers will definitely hear about that from their club managers. Still, the first 45 minutes should be a showing of who they want to start (or at least feature heavily) in Russia, so that will be something to look forward to. This game isn’t about March 23rd, it’ll be about this summer at the World Cup.
There are a number of interesting international games coming up. If you’re looking for odds on the international friendlies, check out Play Shangrila to get the odds for matches, props and betting lines to win it all!
