Qatar World Cup: Josko Gvardiol the Croatia Football World Cup Star in defense

Posted by World Wide Tickets And Hospitality on February 28th, 2022

Josko Gvardiol is a Croatian professional footballer, after making that memorable run to the Football World Cup Final in 2018, Croatia is developing a new squad of celebrities to take over from that famous team that captured the eyes of the whole footballing world 4 years ago. Josko Gvardiol is one of the aspects of that new age group of the Croatia FIFA World Cup team. Regardless of the center-back being just 20 years old, Josko has already made 9 entrances for the Croatia World Cup team as well as starts at the European Championships.

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He has played more than 70 games at the first-team level for Dinamo Zagreb and RB Leipzig, the last club which Gvardiol moved to in 2020 for a base fee of €16 million. For someone so young, Gvardiol is the complete suite of a modern-day center-half. His skill to progress the ball, variety of passing, brilliant carrying and dribbling skills, no-nonsense doggedness, and fanciful active and 1v1 defending, among other qualities, make Josko one of the best young center-backs in the Football World Cup players.

He is a continuous threat in attack. The role of a center-back has progressed over recent FIFA World Cups. From just being the performer who would put out fires and clean up harm forced upon them, the center-back is now important to their team’s collection play and supporting of attacks. Gvardiol is no changed. For more to know about FIFA World Cup Tickets Click here.

Croatia Football World Cup player Gvardiol is so intimidating in control and with his passing that he positions first in the entire Bundesliga for expected threat and from passes. One of his many great characters. Predictable Threat is a base-valuing outline whose goal is to take a step back from the more known arrangements of orders such as shots and key permits, and rather assign credit to the earlier movements which made these key actions like shots possible at all. He is a key Player for Qatar FIFA World Cup 2022.

Expected threat and Expected goals

In addition to the expected threat, Gvardiol also is among the best in Germany all positions comprised for expected goals buildup, a measure coined by understating which sums the total predictable goals of every control the World Cup player was engaged in without key passes in shots.  However not often being involved in actions that force the opponent goalkeeper’s hand as is the case with most center-backs, he is crucial for Leipzig and Croatia Football World Cup team in the building of their attacks.

Forward-looking presence in defense is important, being able to move the ball up the field is supreme to a team’s achievement as previously definite, the Qatar World Cup center-back must be very good at rolling the ball, through either passes or carries. The stopper is a disappearing breed in the modern game and the ball-playing defender is becoming much more ordinary as FIFA World Cup 2022 is arriving.

Croatia Football World Cup player Gvardiol is one of the most advanced defenders in the Bundesliga, and positions second amongst all center-backs only behind Bayern star Lucas Hernandez for joint progressive actions per 90, factoring both passes and carries into consideration. Gvardiol’s tendency to always try to make the penetrating pass, even when under a burden, importantly allows his teams to have more liberty in buildup during big games of the Qatar Football World Cup.

Exploiting the FIFA World Cup opponent’s defensive line

This, along with the above photo of one of the cases of Gvardiol dazzlingly breaking a line to move the ball forward, exemplifies how he always wants to make something happen with the ball. He also isn’t afraid of making those passes under pressure, position 5th across the Bundesliga and 1st in his Leipzig team for this metric.  Additionally, his advanced smartness can be authorized by the aforementioned predictable threat stat, where he leads the Bundesliga.

It’s noticeable that his powerful passing and carrying is very threatening and that he loves moving the ball forward. Causing the ball into the opposition\'s final third, allowing attackers to quickly get into dangerous spots, is another significant element in being a modern-day center-back. Whether it be through solo runs like Croatia Football World Cup player Gvardiol often does, or brilliant adjustments of play to forwards that allow them to transport into space, rapidly getting the football into the last third of the field is a great ability and benefits the World Cup team attacks enormously.

Here, Gvardiol wins the ball in an intimidating zone. He sees space ahead of him due to the breaks in Stuttgart’s block and exploits it. He ends up burning a move that leads to a shot for Leipzig. His capability to calmly thread passes into the final third along with his ability at carrying makes him an all-around outstanding utilizer of this important zone. These points make him special for Qatar FIFA World Cup going to be held this year.

Brilliant old-school Defensive method

Yes, this part has repeatedly touched on the significance of center-backs in possession in the modern game. Yes, this part has recurrently stressed the need for a center-back to be strong in possession and relaxed on the ball. Though these abilities are unconditionally essential, active defending is a skill that can never go incorrect for FIFA World Cup center-backs. After all, one of their main purposes, along with that of their goalkeeper, is to try to stop the other team from scoring.

Croatia Football World Cup star Gvardiol does this brilliantly, his attacking ability is top-notch, and combined with his outstanding recovery pace, he is a very good energetic defender and often comes out on top when he involves in duels. Gvardiol tracks his runner and can pull off a great slide tackle to force the ball out of play. He combines his recovery pace and direct dual engagement well here. 

Gvardiol plays in a back 3 for Leipzig. Tedesco’s scheme and Gvardiol’s positional play as the center-back who drives the farthest up the field mean his attacking numbers could be a bit magnified. However, his overall data and awareness around him propose that he is in fact, one of the best young FIFA World Cup 2022 defenders in Europe at the moment.

International career

Gvardiol earned his first call-up to Croatia\'s national under-21 team in October 2019, at the age of 17, when coach Igor Biscan scheduled him in the squad for Under-21 Euro 2021 qualifiers against Lithuania and the Czech Republic. Gvardiol debuted on 14 November against the previous opponent, being called in the starting lineup, as Croatia won 3–1. On 8 October 2020, he counted the tenth goal in Croatia\'s 10–0 victory over San Marino, the greatest victory in the history of the Croatia Football World Cup team.

On 9 March 2021, he was named in Biscan’s 23-man squad for the group stage of the contest, however, he was necessary to miss it due to a quadriceps injury. On 17 May, he was named in Biscan’s 23-man team for the knockout stage of the competition, as well as Zlatko Dalic’s 26-man team for the UEFA Euro 2020. After losing 2–1 to Spain after extra time in the Under-21 Euro quarter-final, Gvardiol joined the World Cup team. He made his FIFA World Cup team introduction in a friendly 1–0 defeat to Belgium on 6 June, being replaced for Borna Barisic at half-time.

A week later, he received his first start for the Croatia team, in a 1–0 defeat to England in Croatia\'s opening game of Euro 2020. With 19 years, four months, and 21 days, he became the youngest ever player to play for Croatia at a key competition, surpassing Mateo Kovacic. On 8 October 2021, he recorded his first goal for Croatia in a 3–0 Qatar FIFA World Cup qualifying victory over Cyprus.

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