OLIĆ AND KAČAVENDA: AGAINST PORTUGAL, WE WILL PROVIDE A GOOD GAME -

The Croatian U-21 national team will play a qualifying match for the European Championship against Portugal on Tuesday, September 10. Coach Ivica Olić and Lukas Kačavenda announced the game, saying the team will win tomorrow.

The young Vatreni are making their final preparations for the match against Portugal, and coach Ivica Olić says that the team is ready to win against an exceptionally high-quality opponent.

We are happy that we had two days longer to prepare for this match compared to the A national team. That means a lot to us at this stage, so in a way, we can get to know each other better and those demands, which we would like them to transfer to the field tomorrow, through slowly adopting the training. I believe those two days were good for us, that we will be much better tomorrow, and that we will provide a good game. The opponent is dangerous, high-quality, and has been at the top in all age groups for years, not only in U-21 and U-19 at the top of European football. The situation on the table indicates what I’m talking about, said Ivica Olić

The last few days indicate a good team atmosphere and the readiness of the players to respond to all demands.

I believe in that. Yesterday’s training is my hope and belief that they slowly began to understand the requirements we want and the critical approach in such a match. One of the indicators for us could be the Portugal match in Greece, where Greece had a perfect approach and achieved a victory against the favored Portugal with discipline, deservedly so. Considering that we analyzed the first match and saw what it means when you play against a disciplined team, it means an organized block; they run endlessly, and nobody jumps out of that block. We saw what aggressiveness means. We lacked that discipline and sacrifice, but now we had two days to get used to it, and the second game awaits us: Portugal wants to compete. It will be a completely different game, but I hope we will play well, said Olić

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Many players who played in the U-21 team also play in the Croatian A national team, which is proof of good work with younger ages, Olić says.

Arriving at the first press conference, I said that it was a priority for all of us and that we were especially looking forward to those young players who are coming and those who fit in very quickly. We were all happy when we saw Baturina and both Sučić and Matanović. The impressions of the public were also excellent, and everyone was delighted that we had quality players. The matches against Portugal and Poland showed Croatia’s fantastic game, and this youth gave hope for good and quality results, Olić added

The team knows they have a difficult task ahead of them, but Lukas Kačavenda says they are going for the win.

The most challenging game is coming up, but if we win, we can go to the European Championship. We will do our best to win that game. With three points, we are the first in the table, and we still have two games to win so we will go for the win, said Kačavenda

From the beginning, you can see that the boys are giving their best and throwing themselves headlong. We have made an analysis, and I think we can expect a quality match. We will wait for our chances and I hope we will receive them and that we will win that match. We will wait in the middle block, wait for your counters and chances, and try to keep the ball and possession. I think we will like it, Kačavenda added

The match against Portugal is scheduled for September 10 at 7 p.m. in Karlovac at the Branko Čavlović-Čavlek stadium.

Croatia is currently second in Group G with 16 points, two less than Portugal, the leader. Third is Greece with 14 points, followed by the Faroe Islands with 7, Belarus with 6, and Andorra with 3.