Turkey vs Croatia match report: Luka Modric wonder goal the difference in Group D meeting

Turkey 0 Croatia 1

Croatia went out at the group stage at the last two tournaments they played in, but after just one game, and a 1-0 win at that, it is almost impossible to see them doing that again this time. Because there will be no 1-0 wins more one-sided than this all competition, and closer games that are won by more comfortable scorelines.

On another day Croatia would have scored five goals at the Parc des Princes, and every time they attacked in the second half they looked like scoring. With Dario Srna, Marcelo Brozovic and Ivan Perisic in wide areas they had a direct threat that Turkey simply could not live with.

And at the heart of all was Luka Modric, surely the best midfielder playing at this competition and the most compelling reason – but not the only one – why Croatia can hope to be playing deep into the tournament’s second half.

Just as he does for Real Madrid, Modric was at the heart of everything good that Croatia did, somehow always half a step ahead of everyone else on the pitch. He scored the only goal, with a brilliant 25-yard volley of a dipping ball just before the break. It was a goal that, of all the players on the pitch, only he would have the imagination, the audacity and the technical skill to execute.

The fact that Croatia only managed to convert one of their many chances meant that Turkey were always still in the contest. And yet despite that, and despite the efforts of their players and the roared support of their fans, they offered very little. In the first half, when the game was still tight, they had one real chance, as Ozan Tufan headed straight at Danijel Subasic. After that there was nothing.

At least in the first half Turkey managed to restrict Croatia’s opportunities, blocking the middle the of the pitch, forcing them to go wide. The best moments came when Croatia attacked down the sides, with Srna and Perisic’s crossing creating some openings. But ultimately it was a game that needed to be broken open by a moment of quality, and who better to provide it than Modric?

There were three minutes left of the first half, and the two coaches were considering who to bring on to open up the pitch in the second half. Ivan Rakitic swung in a cross from the left which Selcuk Inan volley up and away.

Modric was lurking a long way from goal but as soon as he saw the flight of the ball he knew what to do. Running forward, knowing just where the ball would drop, Modric left the ground to volley it perfectly back towards goal. Volkan Babacan did not expect a hit that good, and the ball skipped off the pitch just in front of him and flew into the corner of the net.

It was a brilliant piece of technique, a harder goal to score than Dimitri Payet’s opener in the Stade de France on Friday night. And it meant that Fatih Terim, not Ante Cacic, had to change his system at half-time. He went to 4-2-3-1, hoping to open up the pitch, removing Oguzhan Ozyakup, then captain Ardan Turan and then Cenk Tosun, trying to find the right solution to get back into the game.

But all of these changes meant that Terim gifted Croatia the one thing they wanted the most, space in midfield. Modric and Rakitic were free to run the game without being swarmed by red shirts, while Perisic and Brozovic could storm forward without being tracked back.

What followed, then, were a succession of Croatian chances so good that they should really have won this game 5-0. Srna hit the back from a free-kick, before dragging a left-footed shot just wide of the near post. Brozovic brought one ball down and volleyed it wide, then could only get the slightest touch on a Perisic cross from the left. When Perisic’s header from Srna’s cross hit the bar, Croatia started to worry why the game was still alive.

Luka Modric celebrates after opening the scoring for Croatia against Turkey (Getty)

These opening group games are often cagey affairs but Terim was happy to risk doing serious damage to Turkey’s goal difference it meant they had the slightest chance of a result.

Burak Yilmaz, the veteran striker now playing in China, and Emre Mor, the Borussia Dortmund prospect, were both thrown on. They gave Turkey slightly more purpose, although there was no real threat, no real siege. Croatia breezed through, and only two defeats now would stop them from reaching the last-16. They do not want to think about it like that, and understandably so. They can aim as high as they want.

Turkey (4-3-3) Babacan; Gonul, Topal, Balta, Erkin; Tufan, Selcuk, Ozyakup (Volkan Sen, 45); Calhanoglu, Tosun (Emre Mor, 69), Arda (Burak Yilmaz, 65)

Croatia (4-2-3-1) Subasic; Srna, Corluka, Vida, Strinic; Modric, Badelj; Brozovic, Rakitic (Schildenfeld, 88), Perisic (Kramaric, 86); Mandzukic (Pjaca, 90)