Canada and Croatia both failed to win their opening group games, with Sunday's showdown between the two taking on added significance in race to qualify from Group F. Belgium are long odds-on to win the group with Croatia, Canada and Morocco all set to battle it out for second place.
Last edition's runner-ups, Croatia, did not get off to a strong start to their World Cup campaign as were held to a disappointing 0-0 stalemate against underdogs Morocco.
Despite dominating possession against the African team, the Croats were unable to carve out meaningful chances in the final third. They could not afford any more slip ups, and have to win this game to avoid facing Belgium in a do-or-die match.
On the other hand, the Maple Leafs showcased that despite their relative inexperience at World Cup, with their last participation coming in 1986, they are no pushovers at this year's tournament, and really gave second-ranked Belgium run for their money, going toe-to-toe in what was a fearless display.
While it was a disappointing result for Canada, manager John Herdman will be keen to focus on the positives of their performance. The North American's were enterprising throughout and had fair share of spells of dominance in the high-intensity game.If talismanic wide-man Alphonso Davies had not botched the 10th-minute penalty, the story could have turned out very quite differently, potentially triggering another giant-killing at this year's World Cup. Regardless, they will be aiming to put another strong showing against another established European side in Croatia.
Croatia vs Canada confirmed lineups
Croatia XI (4-3-3): Livakovic; Juranovic, Lovren, Gvardiol, Sosa; Modric, Brozovic, Kovacic; Livaja, Kramaric, Perisic
Canada XI (3-4-3): Borjan; Johnston, Vitoria, Miller; Laryea, Hutchinson, Eustaquio, Davies; Buchanan, Larin, David
Croatia vs Canada LIVE updates
Croatia and Canada's upcoming World Cup fixtures
With mighty Belgium being their final group game, Croatia would be desperate to grab three-points here as it would put them in a great position for qualification into the knockout rounds, especially if Morocco fail to get anything out of their game against Belgium.
Canada will face Morocco to finish their group campaign, and will be hoping get something out of this game to keep their qualification hopes alive heading into final matchday.
