Take possession, take control. That has been the maxim that Croatian football has lived by, nine-tenths of the law that this improbably golden generation of players has built their unlikely success upon. But more like six-tenths, to be precise. This is a percentage game, you see, and quite literally so. If Luka Modric, Marcelo Brozovic and Mateo Kovacic have and hold the ball 60 per cent of the time or more, their opponents can only pick at and pierce through their teammates 40 per cent of the time or less.
It is a fair calculation, one that produces moments of truly masterful midfield play between a Croatian triumvirate that are arguably the best practitioners of possession play since Barcelona’s class of 2011. They find the points, lines and angles to keep what they believe is rightfully theirs, almost playing a game of their own to themselves. “When you pass them the ball it is safer than having your money in the bank,” says left-back Borna Sosa. It was a nice metaphor. But every so often, a bank goes bust.
