Croatia vs Cyprus Prediction for Saturday’s World cup qualifier clash at Stadion HNK Rijeka in Rijeka. Croatia, after a disappointing opening match, will look to bounce back as they host Cyprus who drew in their first match of the group. Read along for our free prediction and betting tips.
Croatia looking for their first win
The 2018 World Cup runners-up had a bad start to their 2022 World Cup qualifying matches losing away to Slovenia 1-0. In that match, Croatia dominated with 66% of ball possession and 626 completed passes.
The Croats had 12 goal attempts but couldn’t score due to lack of a straight attacker in coach Dalic’s squad. Luka modric and his teammates were faced with a solid Slovenian defense and a very decisive Jan Oblak at goal who made four important saves.
Croatia are now without a win in four competitive matches. They are ranked 11th on the FIFA world ranking chart and are in a group where all other teams are ranked lower than them.
Cyprus with a tough away fixture
Cyprus have never qualified to a World Cup and they find themselves in a difficult group in this campaign. They don’t have an impressive World Cup Qualification record as they recorded just one win from their last 16 matches, and that was against 195th ranked Gibraltar.
In their first match of the group played at home on Wednesday, Belgian coach Johan Walem’s team had a scoreless draw against Slovakia. It’s considered as a good result since the visitors are 34th in the world, 66 places better than the Cypriots.
Although the Slovaks enjoyed more possession of the ball with 60%, coach Walem’s side showed a solid defensive performance limiting their opponents to just three shots on goal, while having 11 goal attempts themselves.
Key Stats
Croatia vs Cyprus Prediction
Prior to their last match against Slovenia, Croatia’s matches had been full of goals. In all of their last ten matches (friendlies included), there had been three or more goals.
In the six matches that they played in the Nations League they conceded 16 goals and scored nine, making them the second-worst defense in League A.
We don’t think that Cyprus will put too much pressure on the Croatian defense as the Cypriots have scored in just two of their last seven competitive matches.
We are betting on the total match goals to be scored for this one and backing over 2.5 goals.
Croatia vs Cyprus Betting Tips
Over 2.5 Total Match Goals 1.50 or ½ at William Hill
Under 3.5 total Match Goals 1.67 or 4/6 at William Hill