{"id":33888,"date":"2026-05-18T17:58:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T17:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/18\/luka-modric-to-lead-croatia-in-fifth-world-cup-despite-injury\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T17:58:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T17:58:51","slug":"luka-modric-to-lead-croatia-in-fifth-world-cup-despite-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/18\/luka-modric-to-lead-croatia-in-fifth-world-cup-despite-injury\/","title":{"rendered":"Luka Modric to lead Croatia in fifth World Cup despite injury"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) \u2014 <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">Luka Modric<\/span> He was selected for the Croatian national team on Monday and will play in his fifth game. <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">world cup.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic has named a 26-man roster, including Ivan Perisic, who has scored in the last three competitions. <\/p>\n<p>modric <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">broke his cheekbone<\/span> The Croatia captain is expected to be fit for Croatia&#8217;s opening World Cup match against England on June 17, although that took place last month. They will also play against Panama and Ghana in their next matches. <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">Group L<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Modric, 40, won the Ballon d&#8217;Or in 2018, ending the long reign of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. He made his international debut in 2006 and is the most capped Croatian player with 196 caps. He could reach the 200-cap milestone at the World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>Dalic&#8217;s team is not lacking in experience. They also include goalkeeper Dominik Livakovi\u0107, defender Josko Gvardiol, midfielders Mateo Kovacic and Mario Pasalic, and Andrej Kramaric.<\/p>\n<p>Croatia advanced to the 2018 World Cup finals <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">lose to france<\/span>took 3rd place in the 2022 tournament.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the 26-man squad, Dalic also named seven standby players.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>Croatia:<\/p>\n<p>Goalkeepers: Dominik Livakovi\u0107, Dominik Kotarski, Ivor Pandur.<\/p>\n<p>Defenders: Josko Gvardiol, Duje Kaleta-Kal, Josip Staro, Josip Stanisic, Marin Pongracic, Martin Erlik, Luka Vuskovi\u0107.<\/p>\n<p>Midfielders: Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic, Mario Pa\u0161i\u0107, Nikola Vlasic, Luka Susic, Martin Baturina, Christian Jakic, Petar Susic, Nikola Moro, Toni Fulk.<\/p>\n<p>Forwards: Ivan Perisic, Andrej Kramaric, Ante Budimir, Marko Pa\u0161ari\u0107, Petar Musa, Igor Matanovic.<\/p>\n<p>Standby players: Lobro Majer, Franjo Ivanovic, Dion Drena Bergio, Ivan Smol\u010di\u0107, Carlo Letica, Adrian Sege\u010di\u0107, Luka Stojkovi\u0107.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>More World Cup coverage: <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/fifa-world-cup<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/croatia-squad-modric-world-cup-e1efb72e5ff6dc8b3ba08c868f30af82\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) \u2014 Luka Modric He was selected for the Croatian national team on Monday and will play in his fifth game. world cup. Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic has named a 26-man roster, including Ivan Perisic, who has scored in the last three competitions. modric broke his cheekbone The Croatia captain is expected to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33889,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-33888","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Luka Modric to lead Croatia in fifth World Cup despite injury - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/18\/luka-modric-to-lead-croatia-in-fifth-world-cup-despite-injury\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Luka Modric to lead Croatia in fifth World Cup despite injury - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) \u2014 Luka Modric He was selected for the Croatian national team on Monday and will play in his fifth game. world cup. 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