Marcus Rashford squanders golden chances as England and Croatia play out stalemate behind closed doors
Croatia 0-0 England: For all the farcical pre-game fuss about whether Gareth Southgate was concerned about TV audiences hearing his own players swear, the match rarely rose to the kind of levels that would provoke such reactions
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Past games against Croatia have often provoked deep questions about the entire philosophy of England football, but this match instead provoked philosophical questions about football itself. Whatever about a tree falling in the woods making a sound if no one is around to hear it, can a match actually be good if there is no one there to make a sound?
There were notoriously no supporters in the Stadion HNK Rijeka due to the Croatian federation getting punished for a swastika being mowed into the pitch for a previous international, and it’s difficult not to wonder if it fed into the fact there was so little action in this game – and most relevantly no goals.
It ensured the 0-0 draw was more a curiosity than any kind of contest – although it is said that the World Cup finalists don’t view the Nations League with that much meaning in any case – with the added quirk of a smattering of England fans who had travelled singing from a hill overlooking the stadium.
One of their chants? “Your support is f*****g s***.” For all the farcical pre-game fuss about whether Gareth Southgate might be concerned about TV audiences hearing his own players swear, mind, the match rarely rose to the kind of levels that would provoke such reactions.
This is where that philosophical question comes in. It was as if attacks couldn’t generate the same excitement or momentum because there wasn’t the support there to energise them with every reaction, as if every error felt less consequential because there wasn’t the crowd there to let it be known how concerned they were.
This rematch was just so far removed from their last meeting in the World Cup semi-final as an event.
It was never going to have anything like the same sense of importance as that epic night in Moscow, of course, but you might have at least expected that last match and its aftermath to then have infused this with a bit more life. Not so.
There was no life in the stands, so there was little life on the pitch.
The only events of consequence were Jordan Henderson and John Stones getting bookings that will keep them out of Monday’s match against Spain, and – more relevantly in the long term – the debuts of Ben Chilwell and substitute Jadon Sancho.
The latter did temporarily raise the level of excitement with a brilliant run and cross down the right, Southgate audibly applauding his contribution.
It was a timely reminder.
There was still the fundamental of football match in the middle of it, mind, and thereby at least a few consistencies.
It didn’t take Croatia too long to display the fundamental difference between these sides, and what made the difference in their World Cup semi-final: that gap in technical quality, especially in midfield.
Within moments of the game starting, Ivan Rakitic had sprayed a perfect cross-field ball to Luka Modric, the playmaker had deftly span to play a ball inside and Mateo Kovacic had again shown the ability that makes him such a natural successor to them, the latest in a long line of brilliant midfield talents from the country.
One element so striking about this Croatian side is how they marry pure pace to their purist possession, mostly in the guise of Ivan Perisic. He was again a constant threat for England, once getting himself into a position that saw a shot blocked, then firing the ball across goal. Jordan Pickford had to be alert to push away an Andrej Kramaric effort.
Southgate has changed England’s formation from the World Cup from the three-man defence precisely because they can’t seem to create chances with the same ease, but it is evidently a work-in-progress.
His side are still mostly dangerous from isolated bursts or set-pieces rather than actual construction of play in such games. Both of England’s efforts against the frame of the goal illustrated this. Eric Dier’s header against the post came from a corner, Kane’s header against the bar came from a curled Henderson cross after a corner.
Earlier, Chilwell had done well to tear down the left and cross for Raheem Sterling, only for that to be cut out.
That was where England did their best work. But there was still progress.
In the absence of a crowd to build excitement, England did build some momentum out of such chances – even if it meant Marcus Rashford missing later chances.. They spent a lot of the second half as the superior side, controlling the pattern and shape of the game, even if they have no one to control the ball like Modric or Rakitic.
For their part, Croatia now seem to lack someone to provide end product like Mario Mandzukic, who retired after the World Cup.
Kramaric again emphasised this later on, with a skewed shot wide.
There was still some residual rancour between the teams, mind. Stones got his booking for a bad challenge on Rakitic, and it was difficult not to think Tin Jedvaj’s bad foul on Dier moments later was mere retribution.
One English voice could be heard calling for the “lino” to intervene.
There was just no one in the stands to hear it, and little of note that happened.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments