Ahead of the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Cyprus and Slovakia, the Croatia national team held a training, also attended by captain Luka Modrić. reports Gol.hr.
Since he missed the September qualifiers, Modrić played his last game in the national team jersey at the European Championship against Spain in June.
Goran Stanzl/PIXSELL
Everyone could hardly wait for Luka’s return to the national team, confirmed by assistant Vedran Ćorluka. Modrić arrived at the national team camp on Monday night, and on Tuesday night, had his first training session with Croatia after a long break.
©️ The captain @lukamodric10 at #Croatia practice session ?? #BeProud #Vatreni❤️? pic.twitter.com/IdFKAVTKzG
— HNS (@HNS_CFF) October 5, 2021
Unfortunately, the national team lost Josip Juranović and Dejan Lovren before the October qualifiers, while Domagoj Vida will miss one game. Thus, Josip Stanišić, a Bayern player and the new star of Croatia, could make his debut as a right back.
“Lovren and Juranović will not come to the gathering. We agreed, due to their injuries and the current situation that they stay at their clubs and train. Juranović dropped out, and Lovren will not be with us for the first week, and we will see if he will be OK for the match against Slovakia. We have a situation with stoppers, but I wouldn’t say a problem either because we have a lot of quality in that part of the game. We activated the callups to Ćaleta-Car and Pongračić, they are in full training, although they did not play all the games,” said Dalić on Monday.
Coach Zlatko Dalić sees Stanišić in the first match against Cyprus, and maybe against Slovakia, played in Osijek on October 11 at 20:45.
Unfortunately, Mislav Oršić missed Tuesday’s training due to ankle discomfort, and the medical team did not want to take any risks. However, the Dinamo player should be ready for the qualifiers against Cyprus and Slovakia.
Tuesday’s training also featured goalkeeper Simon Sluga, who arrived as a replacement for the injured Ivica Ivušić.
On Monday, Croatia also trained at the Hitrec-Kacian auxiliary ground at Maksimir Stadium. Nikola Vlašić’s 24th birthday celebration enhanced the already great atmosphere.
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