Northern Ireland vs Croatia: Match Preview and Prediction

Northern Ireland vs Croatia
International Friendly
Date: Tuesday, 15th November 2016.
Kick Off: 19:45 UK
Venue: Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Whilst Northern Ireland’s form has been patchy to say the least they are still on target to qualify for Russia 2018, and as expected Germany lead their group. But inconsistency could still threaten their campaign and chances.

Right now Northern Ireland are beating the teams they should be winning against like San Marino and Azerbaijan but struggling against quality such as Germany and they could only get a 0-0 result against Czech Republic.

Croatia is top of their group and on course for qualification having a two point lead over Ukraine.
They are also in great form unbeaten in their group and on a 3 game winning run. They haven’t lost since last June at the European Championships and are on the face of it one of the form teams in Europe.

Northern Ireland vs Croatia: Head-to-head stats

The two nations have never played each other before and this will be their first ever meeting on a football field.

Northern Ireland vs Croatia: Predictions

This is a great fixture for Northern Ireland to play because Croatia are the better team and they can really give themselves a good working out and test, plus Croatia are in such a rich vein of form.

Croatia has proven that they are adaptable home and away and will go out on attack. The friendly match for these set of men won’t matter because the instruction is clear, to keep a winning mentality.

Northern Ireland will be relying on the qualities of Kyle Lafferty and Liam Boyce, but even at home this is a big game and it’s difficult to oppose the away nation. This could be a difficult night for Northern Ireland.