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Croatia’s youngsters have a high bar to reach, as they approach the tournament following the success of the senior side 12 months ago. They were able to make the World Cup final, while their place at this tournament does suggest that young talents are on their way up in Croatia. While there are problems behind the scenes in the Croatian setup, but they’ve still produced talents like defender Duje Caleta-Car, midfielder Nikola Vlasic and attacker Alen Halilovic. While they have a balanced side ahead of this tournament, it was their defending which brought them here.
Croatia made it through their qualifying group having let in only five goals across their 10 matches. They were able to win to nil in six of those games, so we expect them to keep things tight when they meet Romania on Tuesday. They have the talents within their side to play a possession-based game, while they are likely to rely on patient build-up play with Romania likely to be solid too.
Both Croatia and Romania get their campaigns underway at the Under 21 European Championships on Tuesday, with these two sides aiming to cause a shock this summer. The pair have landed a place in Group C alongside England and France, so their chances of making it through the group and into the semi-finals seem slim. Despite that, these two sides have done well to make it this far, while things could get even better for one of them in this encounter.
Romania are making their first appearance in over 20 years, while this is their second time at this tournament. Romania were quarter-finalists in 1998, but they return to the tournament this week aiming for another impressive run. After all, the senior side are trying to return to the European Championships next summer, while some of these Romania players could be included in that group if they can impress in Italy this month.