England will take on Croatia tonight in their World Cup Group L opener in Arlington. Thomas Tuchel’s side aim to start their campaign strongly against a Croatia team featuring Luka Modric.
The match kicks off at 9pm UK time and will be shown on ITV1 and ITVX. England have prepared with a strong qualifying record that included eight clean sheets.
Tuchel has named a predicted starting lineup of Pickford in goal, defenders James, Konsa, Stones and O’Reilly, midfielders Rice, Anderson and Bellingham, plus forwards Saka, Gordon and Kane. Tino Livramento has withdrawn from the squad with a calf injury.
Croatia are expected to line up with Livakovic, Sutalo, Vuskovic, Gvardiol, Stanisic, Modric, Kovacic, Perisic, Sucic, Baturina and Musa. Coach Zlatko Dalic has a full squad available.
The fixture revives memories of Croatia’s 2018 World Cup semi-final win over England. Croatia’s sports newspaper Sports Novosti highlighted the team’s strong motivation against the Three Lions.
