After a 1:1 draw against Northern Ireland in the first round of additional qualifications for the 2025 European Championship, the coach of the women’s football team, Nenad Gračan, was satisfied with the performance and emphasized that the players realized that they could handle them
CROATIA – NORTHERN IRELAND 1:1 (Lojna 5′-11m/Howe 90’+2′)
Croatia: Bačić, Jelenčić, Nevrkla, Pezelj, Joščak, Rudelić, Lojna, Galić, Mikulica (90+5′ Đordić), Čanjevac, Marković (74′ Dulčić). Selectman: N. Gračan
Northern Ireland: Burns, McKenna, Dugdale (83′ Burrows), McPartlan, Rafferty, Schofield (72′ Bell), Magill (72′ Howe), Halliday (63′ McDaniel) Maxwell, Wade, Holloway. Menu: T. Oxtoby
The best Croatian football players entered the additional qualifications for next year’s European competition through a group with Wales, Ukraine, and Kosovo, and the draw connected them with Northern Ireland in the first round, which was second in its group, behind Portugal.
Croatia took the lead in the fifth minute. Lojna scored a penalty kick, and 1:0 remained on the scoreboard until the second minute of injury time.
Then Howe crossed from the left side, and Lojna deflected the ball into her net for the final 1:1. The second leg is scheduled for Tuesday, October 29 in Belfast, starting at 8:00 p.m. The winner will advance to the second, final round of the playoffs and compete with the better teams from Albania and Norway, with the Norwegians winning the first game with the result 5:0.
Nenad Gračan emphasizes that there is no room for regret despite scoring in the game’s last moments.
First of all, I would like to congratulate our girls on a good match. Given the quality of Northern Ireland, it is a national team that is always at the top of European football and has always been to European championships. What is important is that the girls understood that we can deal with them. There were a couple of situations where we played the last pass better or some situations that were in front of their goal – if we had reacted better, we might have done better. But there is nothing to regret. We have one more game to go to try to come back with a positive result – Gračan began
For 90 percent of the game, I would even say maybe 99 percent of the game, we had everything in our hands. Unfortunately, at the end, that perhaps clumsy moment happened and that own goal was scored. Lack of concentration, but we will fix that for the second game – Izabela Lojna said
Will any changes to the line-up for the return leg in Belfast on October 29?
We will see how the players feel. We have three days until that game. For sure there will be fatigue, it was evident today as well. But what we need to think about is that Northern Ireland will not underestimate us, and they will definitely do everything to get through , Soccer is such that you never know which way the ball is going to go. We will try to do everything and take advantage of their weaknesses in the back line – Gračan said
I think they will play more or less the same way as here, that island style of football, tight and aggressive, long ball. Try a long ball to the wings like they did in the second half, and we will go for it, just like here , get used to it and try to score a goal as soon as possible through combinatorics – Izabela Lojna
How much will the tactics change about the game outcome in Varaždin?
We don’t need to change much in terms of the match itself. We parried well, but maybe we should be calmer when we have clean balls and not rush. There were a couple of times when we gave them the ball, and we need to be more calm. And there there will be more space as Ireland are playing at home and they will be more aggressive and will apply more pressure. It will be important to get out of that block – Gračan concluded
SOURCE: Croatian Football Federation
