All credit must go to Iceland, who still cling to the dream of reaching their first ever major tournament next summer. They held Croatia to a draw in Reykjavík last week despite going down to ten men, with the tie still goalless at the halfway stage. The bad news: they have now got to win in Zagreb if they want to make it to Brazil 2014.
Croatia vs. Iceland, 2014 World Cup qualifying: Preview and TV schedule
Iceland impressively held onto a draw with ten men at home to Croatia, though the hosts should be able to kill them off in Zagreb on Tuesday.
Jamie McDonald
They're tantalisingly close to making the World Cup, but winning away at Croatia should surely prove to be too difficult. They're without right-back Ólafur Skúlason after he was sent off in the reverse fixture, while veteran attacker Eiður Guðjohnsen should come into the starting 11 in the absence of his injured teammate Kolbeinn Sigþórsson. Croatia have a full-strength team available.
Projected lineups
Croatia: Stipe Pletikosa; Danijel Pranjić, Vedran Ćorluka, Josip Šimunić, Darijo Srna; Luka Modrić, Ivan Rakitić; Ivo Iličević, Eduardo, Ivan Perišić; Mario Mandžukić.
Iceland: Hannes Þór Halldórsson; Ari Freyr Skúlason, Ragnar Sigurðsson, Kári Árnason, Eggert Jónsson; Aron Gunnarsson, Gylfi Sigurðsson; Birkir Bjarnason, Eiður Guðjohnsen, Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson; Alfreð Finnbogason.
Match Date/Time: Tuesday, 8:15 p.m. local, 2:15 p.m. ET
Venue: Stadion Maksimir, Zagreb, Croatia
TV: Sportsnet One (Canada)
Online: WatchESPN (U.S.), Sportsnet World Online (Canada)
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