The former Croatian player underestimated Argentina's midfield
* Argentina - Croatia: 2pm on Wednesday 14/12, on MetaSports.
"With Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic and Marcelo Brozovic, Croatia has a stronger midfield than Argentina. In my opinion, this is even Argentina's weakest point. They don't have players to support Lionel Messi well enough from the midfield." , Prosinecki analyzed on 24sata on 12/12.
Argentina's current trio of midfield players includes young players like Mac Allister (24 years old) or Enzo Jeremias Fernandez (21)... The strongest of these is Rodrigo De Paul (28 years old), but also only competed. play for Atletico Madrid. They generally have a lower "role", and the influence on the game is not as much as Modric - the 2018 Golden Ball and is the mainstay of Real, or Kovacic is playing for Chelsea.
In contrast, Messi is Argentina's brightest point, contributing four goals and two assists in five matches. According to Prosinecki, on the day the Argentine captain is in high form, Croatia will not be able to win. But the former midfielder who won the bronze medal at the 1998 World Cup also emphasized that his hometown team beat Argentina 3-0 when Messi was on the field in the group stage of the 2018 World Cup.
According to Prosinecki, Messi is also under pressure to win the World Cup, so it is unlikely that he will play well against Croatia. "Messi is the best player of all time, but for the Argentinians, the World Cup is indispensable. It would be unfair to football if Messi did not become the World Cup champion, but we all know normal football. often unfair," continued Prosinecki, adding that Croatia is the type of team that can lose to any opponent but can also win anyone. Therefore, even if Argentina is being appreciated, the 2018 World Cup runners-up still have a chance to win today's semi-final.
Regarding Argentina, the former Croatian player said that the biggest change compared to four years ago was his confidence in coach Lionel Scaloni. Through the first five matches in Qatar, Scaloni applied flexible tactics with each opponent, and most of the players completed well. After starting with a 1-2 loss to Saudi Arabia, the South American team still managed to lead Group C thanks to defeating Mexico and Poland with a score of 2-0. In the 1/8 round, they overcame Australia 2-1. In the quarterfinals, after drawing 2-2 in 120 minutes, they beat the Netherlands 4-3 in a penalty shootout. "I really liked the way Argentina played against the Netherlands," added Prosinecki.
Prosinecki is a member of the golden generation of Yugoslav football who won the U-20 World Cup in 1987. After the breakup of Yugoslavia, he played for his father's Croatian team. Prosinecki and some former U20 World Championship teammates such as Davor Suker, Igor Stimac, Robert Jarni, Zvonimir Boban were the mainstays of Croatia reaching the semi-finals and winning the bronze medal at the 1998 World Cup.
At club level, he won the European Cup in 1991 with Red Star Belgrade, then went to Spain to play for Real Madrid, Oviedo, Barca, and Sevilla in 1997-1997. Prosinecki hung up his boots in 2005.
