Croatia is the favorite of betting sites online to beat Denmark in the round of 16 and reach the quarterfinals. The Blazers finished first in Group D of the World Cup. During the group stage they defeated a very game Nigeria and Iceland. And a very lame Argentina. Meanwhile, Denmark tied their way to second place in Group C. The Danes held off Peru 1-0 and scrounged a couple of valuable points from France and Australia. And that’s perhaps the Danish national team’s best bet against the Croatians. To attempt to maintain a very long draw and then rely on the luck of the draw in shoot-outs. Of course, Luka Modric and company might have a different take on the subject.
Betting Croatia
The 2018 Croatian national football team may not be the best thing since sliced bread. But they are certainly the best thing since the 1998 Croatian national football team. That squad set the bar pretty high, finishing in third place overall. Subsequent iterations of the team seemed to be more interested in limbo than soccer. As in they wanted to stay as low under the bar as possible. The 98 squad included the likes of Davor Suker, Robert Prosinecki and Zvonimir Boban. They don’t make’em like that anymore. But maybe they make’em better now? “I want to beat them, of course. I want people to remember my name in the future, not theirs,” midfielder Dejan Lovren said. And he wasn’t talking about the Danes but about his predecessors in the national team.
They do have to beat Denmark first, though. Which begs the question, is Croatia a clear favorite to beat Denmark? I didn’t watch the video, but betting sites online seem to think so. And that’s good enough for me. It won’t be easy, however. The Danish are defensive specialists. They win by attrition. So it’s all well and good that the Croatians want to make history. But they should not look past Denmark. Which they are not. “I don’t think our tournament will end in the last 16 but for now we can only focus on Denmark,” manager Zlatko Dalic said. “We can only think about what awaits us, but the most important things are still to come.”
Betting Denmark
Denmark’s gameplay has been dull to say the least. So much so that midfielder Christian Eriksen even apologized for the snooze-fest that was France vs. Denmark. “We’re the players so we want to entertain but a game like this this where we were OK with a draw and France were OK with a draw, it’s going to be a boring game for the fans,” the sad Dane said. “Sorry for that but we got the result we wanted, so we’re happy.” He promised to make the Round of 16 clash with Croatia more entertaining, though. “We got what we wanted but for the fans it was a bit disappointing but I’ll make sure if they come to the next game it’ll be more exciting,” he said.
We should be so lucky. As they say in the parlance of our times, it takes two to tango. We can only hope Denmark won’t do another Sammy Hagar; i.e., put the match inside a three-lock box. The Danish must open up and play offense. Otherwise, there’s only so much Modric, Rakitic, and the rest can do to make the game fun to watch. Then again, a lot of that depends on Eriksen. As the Ronaldo, or Messi if you will, of Denmark, he has so snap out of the funk he’s in.
Croatia against Denmark World Cup Odds and Betting Information:
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- Date: July 1
- Time: 21:00 MSK (UTC+3)
- Venue: Report Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, Nizhny Novgorod
- Best online sportsbook odds:
- Croatia -½ (-116) 2 (-118) -113
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- Denmark +½ (+101) 2 (+103) +422
- Draw +225
Odds taken from MyBookie.ag, a leader among betting sites online.