(Football news) The home team just needs to replicate the Wales result to guarantee their place in Germany when they play at Stadion Maksimir; the visiting team has already been eliminated.
Following a tie between Wales and Armenia earlier in the day, Croatia surpassed Rob Page’s Dragons in the Group D standings on Saturday night, taking back control of their qualification fate with a 2-0 victory in Latvia.
At the Skonto Stadion in Riga, goals from Lovro Majer and Andrej Kramaric within the first 20 minutes saw the bronze medalists from the World Cup coast to victory shortly after their Welsh counterparts were held to a single point in Armenia.
After making two mistakes last month, losing back-to-back games against Wales and the group winners Turkey, Croatia can now guarantee their spot in the European Championship for next summer if they win Wednesday and earn a maximum of points, or even if they lose and Turkey denies Wales a victory.
However, veteran coach Zlatko Dalic will be well aware that the runners-up in the UEFA Nations League cannot afford to be complacent after leading his country to such near-unprecedented glory in recent years.
Should they fail to secure the runners-up berth, they would have to compete in the playoff lottery, where the Kockasti’s spot is guaranteed due to their incredible journey to the Nations League final.
Should Croatia be unable to enter Germany by the front door, they will have to travel a more arduous path in order to qualify for a sixth consecutive European Championship. Their goal will be to finally win some hardware before more players from the ‘golden generation’ retire.
Armenia’s hopes of making their first-ever tournament berth have once again been dashed as they lost their penultimate Group D match. Their chances of finishing in the top two are now gone.
Zelarayan’s opening goal against Wales at the weekend raised hopes for an unlikely late charge up the standings, but even though the home team also struck the woodwork later on, they could only draw 1-1 in Yerevan as Tiknizyan’s own goal cancelled out Zelarayan’s initial strike.
Also read: Euro 2024 qualifying scenarios till now
