Croatia

After a strong Euro 2008 qualification and tournament itself many people started to sit up and take notice of Croatia, with players such as Luka Modric they have plenty of talent. It was then a huge surprise that they didn't qualify for the World Cup and they will surely be looking to put themselves back on the map with a strong showing at Euro 2012.

Croatia needed the playoffs to reach Euro 2012 but won in convincing fashion against Turkey, who had done well at Euro 2008. Croatia's recent no show at the World Cup and struggle in qualifying has to be a worry for anyone backing them to go all the way at Euro 2012.

Best Bets On Croatia At Euro 2012

Check out the best bets on Croatia in the most popular Euro 2012 betting markets:

Croatia To Be Eliminated At The Group Stage

Croatia are a decent side with some top players but they haven't been playing like it in recent years, they failed to qualify for the World Cup and only qualified for Euro 2012 courtesy of the playoffs. Croatia have been drawn in the same group as favourites Spain and fifth favourites Italy and with their international pedigree it is hard to see Croatia matching their 1996 and 2008 exploits by reaching the Quarter Finals. 

Croatia To Gain Three Points In Group C

Should Croatia fail to qualify from Group C it is not clear whether they will come third or fourth, they face tough competition from Republic Of Ireland who also required the playoffs to qualify for Euro 2012. Better bets could therefore come in other markets such as how many points they will get and Croatia have the talent to win one of their games (not necessarily the game against Ireland) but probably not the consistency to pick up points in the other two games in Group C.

Croatia v Republic Of Ireland To Have Under 2.5 Goals

Croatia kept six clean sheets in qualifying but failed to score in two of their last four qualifiers which is a bit of a worry ahead of competitive games against better teams at the Euro 2012 finals. Republic Of Ireland kept five clean sheets in their last seven competitive matches whilst fifteen goals in their ten group games wasn't a great return for Ireland so don't expect many goals in this Group C fixture.

Croatia Qualifying Results

Croatia eventually qualified from their group via the playoffs, having finished runners up to Greece. Croatia were clear second best (six points back to third) but finishing two points behind Greece, who are one of the outsiders for Euro 2012, will worry Croatia's fans ahead of this tournament. Croatia were probably drawn in one of the weaker qualifying groups, backed up by the fact that Greece won the group and Israel were a distant third, and Croatia will need to improve massively if they are to avoid being an also ran in the summer.

Croatia Euro 2012 Squad

This is the predicted 23 man Croatia Euro 2012 squad, when the final squad is announced the squad will be updated:

Goalkeepers: Stipe Pletikosa, Vedran Runje, Danijel Subasic.

Defenders: Vedran Corluka, Josip Simunic, Ivan Strinic, Dejan Lovren, Gordon Schildenfeld, Domagoj Vida, Sime Vrsaljko.

Midfielders: Darijo Srna, Luka Modric, Mario Mandzukic, Niko Kranjcar, Ivan Rakitic, Danijel Pranjic, Ognjen Vukojevic, Ivan Perisic, Tomislav Dujmovic.

Forwards: Eduardo, Nikica Jelavic, Nikola Kalinic, Ivica Olic.

Croatia Player Stats From Euro 2012 Qualifying

Croatia Player's Goal Stats

Here are the most important goal stats from Croatia's Euro 2012 qualifying group. Use these to pick the best goalscorer bets on Croatia's games at Euro 2012.

*All stats reflect bookies rules for own goals and 90 mins play in their respective markets. Seven other Croatia players scored a single goal in qualification.

Croatia don't seem to have a player that is going to dominate their scoring charts at Euro 2012, the fact that midfielder Niko Kranjcar, who only scored in two separate games, was their top scorer in qualifying shows that the betting on their top scorer at Euro 2012 should be very close. In both the games that Niko Kranjcar scored in he scored the first goal of the game and he could represent a bit of value in the first goalscorer market in Croatia's games at Euro 2012, especially as he is likely to take penalties. 

Eduardo and Mario Mandzukic both scored three goals each in qualifying from a similar amount of games, Eduardo has never quite recovered his best from since breaking his leg at Arsenal but he remains a talented goalscorer and two if hs goals in qualifying were either first or last goals. For last goals the best man to bet on could be super sub Nikola Kalinic, who despite only making one start and five sub appearances, managed to score two last goals during qualifying.

Croatia Players' Disciplinary Stats

Check Croatia's yellow and red card stats below to help highlight the best bets in the cards markets for Croatia's Euro 2012 matches.

Croatia didn't have the best disciplinary record during qualifying for Euro 2012, a total of fourteen different players went into the referee's notebook which is a very high amount, between them the Croatia players were booked twenty three times. Seven players were booked more than once but just three of those picked up the first bookings in the match.

Six players were booked twice during qualifying, Nikola Kalinic and Tomislav Dujmovic had the worst bookings per game records from those six players and these two players will be worth looking out for in the bookings markets for Euro 2012 matches involving Croatia. The player to really concentrate on though is skipper Darijo Srna who should play every game at Euro 2012 for Croatia. Srna has a pretty poor disciplinary record, he managed to get booked four times in ten games during qualifying which means no other player goes to Euro 2012 with a worse disciplinary record than Srna.

Croatia Team Stats From Euro 2012 Qualifying

Croatia's team stats can be found below, these stats can be applied to plenty of match markets during Euro 2012.

Croatia had a pretty good goals for and against ratio during Euro 2012 qualifying, including their playoff against Turkey they scored three goals for every one they conceded. Although not always the biggest priced bet, under 3.5 goals looks a very likely outcome in Croatia games at Euro 2012, only two games went over that threshold and they both contained four goals so were over by the smallest margin.

Croatia did well to keep six clean sheets during qualifying and they kept an even amount of first half and second half clean sheets. They did have a much better scoring record in the second half of games though, scoring thirteen in the second half of games compared to eight in the first half. This would suggest that the second half of Croatia games should be higher scoring at Euro 2012. 

Croatia only scored in both halves of a third of their matches which means more often than not all their goals are likely to come in the same half. There were also relatively few games where both teams scored so expect at least one team to keep a clean sheet in many Croatia matches. Croatia were drawing five of their games at half time, the same amount as they were winning, so against better opposition at Euro 2012 they are likely to draw far more at half time than they win, opposing Croatia in the half time markets at Euro 2012 might prove a smart bet.

Croatia Recent European Championships Performances

Croatia have done fairly well in recent European Championships considering their size, they have reached the quarter finals on two occasions and that represents their best performances. They have also failed at the group stage on one occasion and they didn't qualify in 2000. There is no doubting Croatia are a decent side but sometimes they lack the strength in depth to qualify for the latter stages.