Croatia Set to Play Two Friendly Matches

February 9, 2010

The Croatia national team will meet with the Austrian and Belgian national teams before the summer for two friendly matches. They will first travel on March 3^rd to Brussels to play Belgium and then two months later on May 5^th they will play Austria in Klagenfurt. In their recent World Cup qualifying campaigns, Croatia finished third in their group, as well as Austria finishing third, and Belgium fourth.

All three teams, having missed out on the World Cup this summer, will be eagerly awaiting Euro 2012 qualifying which will begin in September of this year. Croatia have not recently met the Belgium team, but were seeded along with Austria in the group stages of the Euro 2008. Croatia and Austria opened their Euro campaigns with a 1-0 win to Croatia with Luka Modrić scoring from the penalty spot — reportedly the fastest taken penalty kick in the tournament. Croatia went on to the quarterfinals after finishing first in the group, as co-hosts Austria bowed out.

Croatia are currently ranked 11^th on the FIFA World Ranking List, Austria are ranked 61^st, and Belgium 66^th. Before meeting Croatia, Austria will play Denmark on March 3^rd, and Belgium have no other reported fixtures.