Match Preview: Croatia 1-1 Slovenia Prediction and Betting Tips | FRIENDLY INTERNATIONAL

Croatia – Slovenia Prediction and Tips for today, Match 26, 2022

Football: FRIENDLY INTERNATIONAL
Kick-off: 15:00 Croatia – Slovenia
Tip: Over 1.5 Goals
Odds: 1.39
Bookmaker: Bet365
Match Result: 1:1 WON!!!

Croatia – Slovenia Match Preview

• Qatar’s Education City Stadium plays host to this international friendly between Croatia and Slovenia, with the Croatians hoping to use this experience to finalise their preparations for the upcoming 2022 World Cup in Qatar. They qualified for the showpiece tournament by beating Russia on the final matchday of qualification in dramatic fashion, retaining their undefeated record since being dumped out of Euro 2020 (W5, D2).
• FIFA’s #15-ranked nation and World Cup runners up in 2018, Croatia can thank their fast starts for much of their recent success, having scored the match opener in seven of their prior nine fixtures. Achieving that feat again could be the key to continuing their fine record vs teams ranked outside the top 50, losing only one of their last 16 such fixtures (W10, D5), although half of those wins came by just a single-goal margin.
• Ironically though, that single loss did come against Slovenia, who opened their UEFA World Cup Qualification Group H campaign with a 1-0 victory over Croatia, before being beaten 3-0 in the reverse fixture. The Slovenes will not be returning to Qatar in November after finishing fourth in their group, missing out on a sixth successive major tournament in the process.
• Now ranked #64 by FIFA, Slovenia’s run of only two losses across their last nine fixtures at least highlights that they’re potentially trending in the right direction (W4, D3). With none of their results replicating the match prior however, consistency continues to hamper their progress after more than a decade of decline since peaking at number 15 in the world after the 2010 World Cup!
• Players to watch: Croatia’s veteran forward Mario Mandžukić has scored ten of his last 13 national goals in the first half, while Miha Zajc scored in his last two international outings, meaning five of his seven goals for Slovenia have served as their opener.
• Hot stat: Slovenia have seen the same half-time/full-time result in 11 of their last 13 matches.