Coming off of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the Croatia national football team was surely looking for a bit of redemption. A group stage elimination didn't give the players of the Croatia squad a chance to show off their talent and great resolve, nor did it give enough time for fans to cheer their team on while wearing the Croatia football kit 2014.Luckily, both players and fans for the Croatia national team are going to get another chance to do the Croatia home jersey 2014 2015 proud. The jersey, a red and white checkered football jersey manufactured by Nike, will be worn by the Croatia players as the campaign for qualification for the 2016 UEFA European Championship. Fans, of course, will want to have the jersey ready to support the Croatian squad, and they can find it now at Soccer Box, where Croatia's World Cup jerseys from this year are still in stock!
The World Cup
The Croatia team acquitted itself well enough at the World Cup this summer, especially after failing to qualify in 2010. However, for a team that has only made it to the World Cup tournament four times and only made it past the group stage once (in 1998, when Croatia wowed audiences with a third-place debut World Cup appearance), the early exit was likely a big pill to swallow.
At the World Cup, Croatia lost 3-1 in the opening match of the tournament against host team, Brazil. The Croatia players also managed the biggest win of the group, crushing Cameroon 4-0 and showing that they deserved to be on soccer's biggest stage.
Unfortunately, when the Croatia players donned the Croatia home jersey 2014 2015 for their third match of the tournament, against Mexico, it seemed the cards were against them. Croatia lost that match 3-1 and was eliminated from the World Cup while Brazil and Mexico advanced to the latter stages of the tournament.
Euro Qualification
Luckily for fans of the Croatia football kit 2014, the Croatian national team didn't have to wait long for their redemption to come. The European Championship 2016 might still be two years away, but UEFA is already launching the qualification matches for the tournament. Croatia played its first qualifier on Tuesday.
For Euro 2016 qualification, Croatia has been drawn into Group H alongside Italy, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Norway, and Malta. In their first qualifying match, Croatia's players got to throw on their Croatia home jersey 2014 2015 and take the field at Stadion Maksimar in the Croatian capital, Zagreb. In other words, the crowd at Tuesday's qualifying match was fully in favor of the Croatian soccer squad, and the team did not disappoint.
The Malta Match
The match brought Croatia up against Malta, a fixture that just about everyone in the soccer world expected Croatia to win. Things weren't so black and white throughout the first half of the match when Croatia's offensive front failed to burst through the Malta defense. By halftime, the match was still stuck in a deadlock at 0-0.
Birthday Boy
Luckily, Croatia came back from the halftime break ready to play. The ice was broken at the 46-minute mark by Croatian captain and midfielder Luka Modric, who drained a beautiful long-ranged strike to put his team up 1-0.
The goal was particularly poignant since Modric was celebrating his 29th birthday on Tuesday. The roars from the crowd were especially appreciative of the birthday boy's goal, which managed to find the net despite a penalty area that was packed with defenders and obstacles.
Modric's goal gave the Croatia team the jolt they needed to wake up from their sleepy first half and start playing a real match. The second half saw the Croatia soccer team looking markedly stronger, including an 80-minute goal by Andrej Kramaric, a 23-year-old striker marking the first goal of his senior international career.
Between Modric's birthday boy status and Kramaric's debut goal, the Malta match ended up being a strong one for the Croatia international team despite a sluggish start. Support the team through the rest of their matches by purchasing a new Croatia football kit 2014 from Soccer Box!
