Croatia vs. Czech Republic Prediction: Euro 2020 Betting Odds

Jordan Ramsay
June 17, 2021

After a 1-0 loss to England in their opening Euro 2020 match, Croatia will look to bounce back on Friday afternoon against the Czech Republic. The Czechs are sitting atop Group D thanks to a 2-0 dismantling of Scotland to open the tournament.

Croatia is a +113 favourite on the soccer odds to win the match, while the Czech Republic sits as +245 underdogs. A draw is going at +220.

Croatia vs. Czech Republic Betting Odds

Neither team is exactly an offensive juggernaut, so it’s not surprising to see the Under-2.5 goals favoured at -159 and the Over at +123. The Croatians are bumped up to a -196 on the ‘draw no bet’, with the Czechs +139 dogs. Croatia’s Ante Budimir is a +640 favourite to score the game’s first goal and +225 to score anytime. At +440, the favoured exact score result is a 1-1 draw.

The Croatians are sitting at -250 to move past the group stage, but they’re +2012 to actually win Group D. With that early win, the Czechs are -1250 to survive the group stage and +505 to win the group. Neither team has great odds to win the tournament. Croatia is +4743 to win the European Championship, while the Czech Republic is +7790.

Croatia

The Croatias have struggled to build off the success they had as World Cup runners-up three years ago. Things haven’t been any easier to open this tournament. Facing England at Wembley Stadium, Croatia helped the Three Lions win their first-ever European Championship opening match. Croatia was clearly outplayed in the first half and a 57th-minute goal from Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling is all it took to win the game for England.

After missing the opening game with a back injury, Borna Barisic will also miss this game, but he is expected to play in the tournament at some point. There’s better news in regards to Dejan Lovren. He’ll get the green light to play against the Czechs after sitting out the England game with a knee injury.

Croatia is still in a decent position. There’s two games left in the group stage and the Czechs still have to go through England. After this game, they’ll have a much weaker opponent in Scotland, so if Croatia can beat the Czech Republic, they have a great shot of getting to the knockout rounds.

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic crushed Scottish fans’ hearts in Glasgow in the opening match and they’ll be looking to do that to the Croatians on Friday. Patrik Schick almost singlehandedly dismantled the Scots, scoring goals just before halftime and just after. Schick’s second goal was an absolutely monstrous bomb from just past the halfway line. At 49.7 yards away, it’s the longest recorded goal in European Championship history.

This team is fairly healthy heading into Friday. There were no new injury concerns after the Scotland match, but injured goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka has officially been replaced by Tomas Koubek. Schick will obviously get a lot of minutes against Croatia, but we could also see 18-year-old Adam Hlozek get some big minutes up front as well.

A win on Friday should guarantee a spot in the knockout rounds for the Czech Republic. The Czechs, however, have failed to win their last three matches against Croatia and these teams are meeting for the first time since a 2-2 draw at Euro 2016. With an extremely tough match against England coming up, this is the Czech Republic’s best shot to guarantee they move on.