Southgate was told that Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic feared the prospect of going to Wembley right at the beginning of the tournament, with London one of 12 European cities to host matches. However, the most significant recent meeting between them came in last year’s FIFA World Cup semi-final in Moscow, when Croatia won 2-1. “We have had three really good games, really tight games with them, with very little between the teams all three times,” Southgate said. They then have a final home group game against another familiar opponent in the Czech Republic, who they trounced 5-0 at Wembley in qualifying, but lost to 2-1 in Prague. “In the end you want to try and win every game you play and at least have control of your destiny,” Southgate said.

Source: Taipei Times December 01, 2019 15:56 UTC