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England international Harry Kane
Photo: Clive Mason / Getty Images
England: The Power Offensive
The fact that the English team (3 p.m. against Croatia; TV: ARD; Stream: MagentaTV) is now named in the same breath as teams like France or Spain as a favorite for the title is mainly due to their offensive.
Jadon Sancho, Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden: The Three Lions could easily bring two world-class attack lines on the field, national coach Gareth Southgate is spoiled for choice.
The man who lets the strings run together in attack is placed in front between the talented speed players: Harry Kane has secured the title of Premier League top scorer for the third time despite a disappointing season at Tottenham Hotspur. Also at the 2018 World Cup and in the European Championship qualification, Kane was the player who had scored the most goals at the end of the tournament.
The 27-year-old is one of the most complete strikers in the world, combines a nose for goal and a center-forward physique with an excellent sense of space and a passing game: he also led the assists statistics of the previous Premier League season.
Since the introduction of the mode with group phase, only Gerd Müller has been able to become top scorer at successive European and World Championships in 1970 and 1972. Kane has the best cards to accomplish this feat this year as well.
On the defensive, England are not that strong - even if the quality of defensive players like Harry Maguire or John Stones still exceeds that of many of their competitors.
But if the attack brings his horsepower onto the pitch, it will be difficult to stop the English before the home final at Wembley.
Croatia: showpiece midfield
Optimism around the Croatian national team is hard to spot these days: a 1-1 draw against Armenia, a 0-1 draw against Belgium - the tests before the European Championship were not enough to gain new confidence after difficult years.
Now there is also travel stress: Instead of the Scottish St Andrews, the Croatians are pitching their tents in Rovinj, the delta variant of the corona virus had led to stricter quarantine rules in Scotland.
The vice world champion has to prepare himself from exile for a group that seems feasible on paper.
But not only does the schedule have two away games for the Croatians - against England at Wembley Stadium in London, against Scotland in Glasgow's Hampden Park - the team itself is no longer what it was three years ago.
Or rather, it is almost identical to the team that only lost to France three years ago at the World Cup.
But because many of the pillars of Zlatko Dalić's team were already in the autumn of their careers, that's not a good sign.
Superstar Luka Modrić is still a great footballer at 35, and the versatile midfield is the showpiece of the Croatians anyway.
In the storm, however, a real snap is missing without Mario Mandžukić, and the defense around Dejan Lovren and Domagoj Vida has noticeably reduced.
The changeable preparation provides at least the advantage of unpredictability: How Croatia will position itself in the new edition of the World Cup semifinals of 2018 is completely open.
The English are favored at the start.
