Croatia to play Saudi Arabia
- by croatiaweek
- in Sport
The Croatian national football team will play a friendly match against Saudi Arabia in Riyadh on November 16th.
The match will be the last test for Zlatko Dalić’s side before the World Cup in Qatar.
Saudi Arabia is ranked 49 in the world in the FIFA rankings, and are in Group C at the World Cup with Argentina, Mexico and Poland.
We are happy to agree with Saudi Arabia, which will be a good last test for the ‘Vatreni’ before the World Cup. We have thus fulfilled the wish of the coach and our staff to play a match near Qatar, for the sake of acclimatisation. From the organisational point of view, HNS will, as always, provide maximum support to the national team before and during the World Cup, which the world runners-up deserve. I believe that with the quality and togetherness, which the Croatian national team certainly has, we will once again have reason to celebrate with the Vatreni,” said the President of the Croatian Football Federation, Marijan Kustić.
“Given the unusually short preparations for the World Cup, we wanted to be in the Middle East from the first day of the gathering to acclimatise to the conditions that await us in Qatar as soon as possible, that is why we see this match in Riyadh as an ideal stop for the last tune-up before the World Cup. Saudi Arabia is a regular participant at the World Cup, one of the traditionally best teams in Asia, and we will be tested by a test against a non-European team, against which we rarely play, and which will certainly be motivated against the world runners-up,“ said coach Zlatko Dalić.
“We are very pleased with the fact that we will play the last preparatory match before the World Cup against the current world runners-up. We want to get the most out of this game, in technical and tactical terms. It will be a big test for our players before the first game at the World Cup in Qatar.” said the coach of Saudi Arabia, Herve Renard.
Croatia will gather on November 14, and after the match with Saudi Arabia on November 18, they will stay at their camp in Doha.
Croatia will open its World Cup in Qatar on November 23 at 11 am at the Al Bayt Stadium against Morocco, the second match will be played on November 27 at 5 pm at the Khalifa International Stadium against Canada, and the third on December 1 at 4 pm at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium against Belgium.
