By Paul Jones
Rob Page admits he watched Sky Sports News all summer waiting for the news that never came.
“I was watching after the World Cup, waiting for it to be announced that Luka Modric had retired,” says the Wales manager.
“But he didn’t retire, so we have to make sure we’re at our very best.”
It means when Wales face Croatia on Split on Saturday night in their opening Euro 2024 qualifier, they have to deal with Modric, the man who has made Croatia tick for over a decade and whose presence helps make the World Cup semi-finalists firm favourites to win.
Now 37 and still strutting his stuff at Real Madrid, Modric has decided to carry on playing for Croatia ahead of this summer’s Nations League finals.
Croatian star Luka Modric says every Wales player ‘will have to give more’ on Saturday to compensate for the loss of Gareth Bale in the two teams’ opening Euro 2024 qualifier https://t.co/5Dnji5MvwX
— Nation.Cymru (@NationCymru) March 24, 2023
A decision on whether he continues until the Euro 2024 finals will be made at a later date.
Page is starting a new post-Gareth Bale era and although he will be without striker Brennan Johnson – who did not travel because of a groin injury – the man who guided Wales to their first World Cup finals appearance for 64 years is a believer that his youthful side can rise to the occasion.
“Yes we will respect they are a very good team but we have to go with youth and try to be as positive as we can to get a result,” says Page.
“What Croatia have done in the World Cup is no surprise because in major tournaments they do deliver.
“But some of our best performances were with youth against Holland and Belgium. We qualified for the World Cup and then had to go out to Holland three days later.
“The gamble that was forced upon us – to play some of the younger players, that was arguably one of our better performances.”
“So, we know we have to be at our very best and we will be.”
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Croatia are big favourites after finishing third at the 2022 World Cup, while Wales are rebuilding after the departures of several key players since the tournament in Qatar.
The retirement of Bale, as well as Chris Gunter, Joe Allen and Jonny Williams quitting the international scene, has left Wales in a transitional phase and five uncapped players are in the squad.
Page says mistakes were made at the World Cup and that he has addressed them before the start of Euro 2024 qualification.
High on the list of Welsh errors in Qatar was tactical naivety as the lack of numbers in midfield allowed the opposition to play through Wales at will.
Page has credit in the bank after steering Wales to a first World Cup in 64 years, but that will quickly disappear if the European Championship campaign hits the buffers.
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Wales have never beaten Croatia in six attempts. Croatia have won four of those games, starting with a 2-0 Osijek friendly success in May 2010.
Wales lost both 2014 World Cup qualifiers – 2-0 away and 2-1 at home – and suffered a 2-1 defeat in Osijek in Euro 2020 qualifying.
But Bale’s equaliser gave Wales a 1-1 draw in the reverse fixture in Cardiff, the same scoreline when the two nations met for the first time in a Varazdin friendly in 2002.
The hosts will be nearly at full strength, bar the injury absence of young midfielder Luka Susic. Towering striker Petar Musa of Benfica will hope to make his debut.
The late injury blow for Nottingham Forest striker Johnson could be key for Wales, who will likely start Keiffer Moore up front.
Another option could be Tom Bradshaw, who never gave up on his Wales dream despite spending five years in the international wilderness.
Bradshaw is back in the Wales squad at the age of 30 after the Millwall striker scored seven goals in eight games to fire the Lions’ play-off push.
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The last time I was involved was a long time ago, I was a different player and a different person,” said Bradshaw, who won the last of his three caps at the China Cup in March 2018.
“I wasn’t a dad back then, and now I’ve got a four-year-old daughter.
“A lot of things have changed since I was last involved and I feel like I’ve evolved as a player and as a person.
“I wouldn’t say it (playing for Wales) was in the forefront of my mind every year because it had been a while.
“But you always think that if you play well and consistently enough, there’s a chance.
“It was something I wanted to achieve, to get back in the Wales squad and try and make an impact for my country.”
Bradshaw was in former manager Chris Coleman’s provisional squad for Euro 2016 but his hopes of performing in France were ruined when he suffered a calf injury at Wales’ pre-tournament camp in Portugal.
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