The odds have England nailed on to win the group, but that depends on the mentality of Southgate’s side when dealing with World Cup enemies Croatia, and old rivals Scotland.
England’s largest asset is no doubt the triumvirate leading the attack in its various iterations. The prospect of Grealish, Kane and Foden is as exciting in nature to England fans as it is nightmarish for opposition defenders. But Stirling, Kane and Rashford are a more likely choice due to experience and chemistry, despite the wingers being slightly out of form by their usual extraordinary standards.
The forward line has been frustrated when previous opposition have sat back and created a blockade of the box, where Kane is so potent, but England’s threat from set pieces from Stones and Maguire, if fit, is an added dynamic that could further help England clinch the top of the group.
Albeit at the expense of less circumspect football, England are well protected and hard to score against providing the mentality stays rigid. Opponents in Group D do not have immediately obvious attacking combinations that threaten to pierce an England back 4 with Rice and Henderson or Kalvin Phillips in front.
Group D Winner
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Croatia are most likely to cause England those problems but aren’t quite the monster they were in 2018 at the World Cup. Recent Champions League winner Matteo Kovacic forms a midfield 3 with the magical Modric and, and Marcelo Brozovic, a Serie A winner with Inter Milan.
Danger from Croatia’s frontline comes from AC Milan’s Ante Rebic and the consistently solid veteran Ivan Perisic, combined with Dinamo Zagreb’s Bruno Petkovic and CSKA Moscow’s Nikola Vlasic. The forward line will be the biggest test of England’s mettle, but will most likely not out score them and finish 2nd in the group.
Leading up to the campaign Croatia took some big hits, succumbing to Portugal, Sweden, and Slovenia. They squeezed past Cyprus in a 1-0 victory, before a routine win over Malta. However, confidence may have dropped after drawing 1-1 to Armenia on Tuesday.
Despite their slim chances of topping, the group, the Czech Republic are no write offs in this competition. England fans have witnessed the destructive nature of Tomas Soucek in the capital this year, as well as his East London counterpart Vladmir Coufal.
The Czech’s won group 2 of league B in The Nations League, topping fellow Euro group side Scotland, and the bookmakers predict them to get the measure of them in the summer also.
Many heads have been turned by Scotland’s recent 2-2 draw with the Netherlands last week and may be a precursor into what we can expect from England’s old rival.
Scotland could well rely on accumulating points through draws to sneak out of the group, as the lack of attacking fire power will negatively impact chances of winning games. Defence is Scotland’s best hand, with star captain Andy Robertson joined by fellow left back Kieren Tierney perched on the end of a back three with Leeds’ Liam Cooper, and Celtic’s Jack Henry and James Forrest.
