Comments and predictions for Croatia vs Montenegro: Home team dominates
The match between Croatia vs Montenegro in the World Cup qualifiers takes place at 1:45 a.m. on September 9. Nghe An Newspaper analyzes performance, makes football comments and predicts the score.
Latest Croatia vs Montenegro team information
Hosts Croatia will have to check the fitness of Mateo Kovacic, Josko Gvardiol and Josip Stanisic after the trio missed the win over the Faroe Islands. Luka Modric, the most capped player in Croatia's history, was rested for that game and is likely to return to the starting line-up.
Ivan Perisic, another experienced star, is also almost certain to start after coming off the bench and playing most of the second half on Friday.
Montenegro will be without striker Milutin Osmajic (Preston North End), who withdrew from the squad before the defeat to the Czech Republic. In addition, Igor Nikic, Risto Radunovic and Adam Marusic are also absent due to injury.
Striker Stevan Jovetic – Montenegro's all-time leading scorer with 37 goals – will continue to be the biggest hope in attack.
Latest expected lineup Croatia vs Montenegro
Croatia:
Livakovic; Jakic, Pongracic, Caleta-Car, Sosa; Modric, Sucic; Perisic, Kramaric, Pasalic; Budimir
Montenegro:
Petkovic; M. Vukcevic, Savic, Vujacic, A. Vukcevic; Jankovic, Bulatovic, Brnovic; Vukotic, Krstovic, Jovetic
Latest Croatia vs Montenegro football review
Croatia have made an impressive start to their World Cup qualifying campaign, winning all three of their opening matches by a combined score of 13-1.
They scored 12 goals in wins over Gibraltar and the Czech Republic, before adding a narrow 1-0 away win over the Faroe Islands on Friday night.
Croatia were hoping for a bigger win, but Andrej Kramaric's first-half strike was enough to secure all three points.
Zlatko Dalic's team is currently second in the group, three points behind leaders Czech Republic but still has two games in hand. With this advantage, Croatia is considered the number one candidate to win Group L and go straight to the finals.
After conceding just one goal in three qualifiers, Croatia will be looking to continue their defensive solidity in their first meeting with Montenegro.
The team in checkered shirts are notoriously difficult to beat at home, having not lost a European qualifier in nearly two years since losing to Türkiye in October 2023.
Montenegro's hopes of qualifying for their first major tournament as an independent nation are looking slim, despite a positive start.
Under Robert Prosinecki, Montenegro won back-to-back home games against Gibraltar and the Faroe Islands. However, they were quickly brought back to earth with a 2-0 defeat away to the Czech Republic.
After a friendly draw with Armenia in June, Montenegro head into the next round of qualifiers looking for revenge when they host the Czech Republic at home.
However, they suffered another 0-2 defeat, leaving Montenegro third in Group L with four games remaining. They are now three points behind Croatia but have played one game more, and six points behind leaders Czech Republic after two consecutive defeats.
Visiting Croatia – currently ranked 10th in FIFA – is a huge challenge, especially as Montenegro have not won away since beating Bulgaria in March 2023.
Latest Croatia vs Montenegro score prediction
Based on the above football comments, we and the world's leading football sites have given the results of the match.Croatia vs Montenegroas follows:
- Sportsmole:Croatia 2-0 Montenegro
- WhoScore:Croatia 3-1 Montenegro
- Our newspaper predicts:Croatia 2-0 Montenegro
When and where to watch Croatia vs Montenegro live?
To watch live the match Croatia vs Montenegro in the World Cup qualifiers taking place at 1:45 a.m. on September 9, viewers can watch it on online sports channels. Wishing viewers happy moments of watching football.