Croatia leads Group C by itself.
That's probably not a statement you were expecting to hear too often throughout this tournament, but after a 3-1 drubbing of Ireland and a 1-1 draw between Spain and Italy, Vatreni have control of the stacked group.
Now here's a statement you most definitely were expecting to hear: Croatia still has a lot of work to do if it wants to advance to the knockout stage.
This isn't to take away from the Croatians' impressive victory over Ireland on Sunday. Their attack is thoroughly dangerous, and ESPN provides backup for that statement:
This was the first time Ireland have ever conceded three goals in a match at a major international finals—they had previously gone 17 games without doing so.
Ireland is usually very strong in the back, and while Sunday's result is partly due to how bad the Irish played, Croatia deserves credit for creating situations that are tough to deal with.
Mario Mandzukic scored two goals, Nikica Jelavic was dangerous on the attack and Luka Modric was his usual brilliant self in the middle, opening up chances for everyone around him.
Against the Irish's normally stout back line, Croatia racked up 15 shots (five on target) and seven corner kicks, drew 19 fouls and controlled 55 percent of the possession.
Tremendous result, certainly, but again, remember it was against Ireland. I mentioned earlier that Croatia's attack deserved part of the credit for the three goals. Well, the other part of that credit goes to the the Irish defense.
Ireland was atrocious on the defensive side of the ball. Just consider the actual goals, none of which were exactly, um, spectacular.
Goal No. 1 comes from an unlucky deflection off Ireland, but Mandzukic's header is a fairly weak one from pretty deep in the box. How it squeaks past one Ireland defender and goalkeeper Shay Given is beyond me.
Goal No. 2 for Croatia again comes from porous defense.
The ball again deflects off Ireland's unprepared defense and bounces right to Jelavic for the easy goal.
The final goal comes off a cross that finds Mandzukic relatively open in the middle of the box. He heads it off the post, where it comes off and bounces off Given's head into the goal.
It wasn't credited as an own goal, but there's a good chance Mandzukic offered to buy Given a drink after the match.
So, while Croatia was solid and aggressive on the attack, Ireland was just as bad on defense. The Croatians could have easily scored five or six times in this one, but they could have just as easily been shut out.
Throw in their suspect defense (Ireland had 13 shots and plenty of opportunities late in the game, especially off crosses into the box), and the Croatians can't feel safe, even though they sit at the top of Group C.
If they play like today, Croatia will lose against Spain and Italy, who will both just as easily dominate Ireland by at least two goals.
Croatia's steady attack will help it find the back of the net against those two powerhouses, but if Vatreni continues to be shaky in the back, they are going to concede in the next two games.
A lot.
And considering the Croatians will still need some sort of combination of results against Spain and Italy, that's not a good sign.
Is Croatia in good shape? Yes. Does it need to continue to improve? Absolutely, or its dreams of reaching the knockout stages will be crushed.
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