The Croatian national football team will return to the USA in March where they will play two spectacular friendly matches against Peru and Mexico.
While we recently announced Croatia’s friendly match against Peru on March 23, 2017, in Miami – the meeting was confirmed by the Peru Football Federation and unconfirmed by HNS then – four days later on March 27, 2017, the Croatian national football team will face Mexico at AT & T Stadium in Dallas, Texas. HNS confirmed the news on December 27, 2017.
“We have arranged two extremely strong matches, as was the desire of coach Dalić. I am proud that Croatia will play at two fantastic stadiums and that our great diaspora in America will be able to watch the Croatian national team again, this time in the strongest possible form. In May, the team’s Los Angeles tour was a total success, and these two games prove that the Croatian Football Federation is a desirable and attractive partner for such great football spectacles,” said HNS president Davor Šuker after the agreement was reached for these two games.
Peru is ranked 11th in the world and was unbeaten in the last eight qualifying rounds. It has been 26 years since Peru played in the World Cup and advanced this year after defeating New Zealand in additional qualifiers. This meeting at the recently renovated Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, which hosted the most significant sports spectacles from the Super Bowl to El Clasico between Real and Barcelona, will be the first encounter in history between Croatia and Peru.
Mexico is, however, already a well-known opponent of Croatia. Along with the friendly win in Los Angeles earlier this year, Croatia also celebrated two friendly matches during the 1990s, while Mexico was the better team in the World Cup – 2002 and 2014.
Mexico is just one rank above Croatia on the FIFA World Rankings, holding the 16th position. Mexico’s placement in Russia this year is their seventh secured World Cup placement in a row – and in each of the previous six competition, Mexico advanced to the second round.
“Peru and Mexico are very strong teams, and their style of play will be perfect preparation for the World Cup games, especially for Argentina. I believe that many Croatian fans will come to us – the top stadiums, great atmosphere and excellent opponents will surely be a great motive for my players to make the best of these two friendly matches because we know that this is very important for the World Cup,” concluded Zlatko Dalić.
Translated from HNS
