Croatia v England kicks off at 5pm BST on 3 October. Read the latest squad news and the midfield questions ahead of the Nations League match in Rijeka.
England face Croatia in Rijeka on Saturday 3 October 2026, with kick-off at 5pm BST. Thomas Tuchel has a midfield decision to make: Declan Rice and Kobbie Mainoo have withdrawn from the squad, while Croatia have named Luka Modrić and Mateo Kovačić among their options.
That leaves the centre of the pitch as the most interesting part of this early preview. England need a way to move the ball forward without leaving their defence exposed whenever an attack breaks down.
UEFA confirms the venue. The FA's fixture schedule lists the game as taking place behind closed doors because of a UEFA sanction. Check the official match information again before making travel plans.
The FA's senior-squad update on 21 September confirmed injury withdrawals for Rice, Mainoo, Tino Livramento, Cole Palmer and Marcus Rashford. James Garner and Morgan Gibbs-White joined the squad as replacements.
Those changes affect the whole international window. They don't tell us who will start against Croatia.
Tuchel's decision goes beyond choosing two different names. One midfielder dropping towards the centre-backs can give England an extra passing option, but someone still needs to connect that first pass with the attack. If everyone comes short, England risk moving the ball around in front of Croatia rather than through them.
Our focus is on that balance: who receives the first pass, and who offers the next one? England's games against Spain and Czechia before this fixture should give us more to judge than the squad list alone.
Slaven Bilić's announced Croatia squad includes Modrić, Kovačić, Mario Pašalić and Martin Baturina in midfield, with Andrej Kramarić and Ante Budimir among the forwards. This is the squad announcement, not a confirmed starting XI.
For England, the difficult choice is how far to follow Croatia's midfielders when they drop towards the ball. Press too aggressively and a pass around the first challenge can expose space further forward. Sit off completely and Croatia have more time to choose their next pass.
The useful thing to watch is whether England press together. A forward chasing the ball on his own achieves little if the midfield behind him leaves an easy route out.
Possession percentages won't tell the whole story. A team can have plenty of the ball while doing little with it; the more revealing moments come when a pass breaks a line or possession changes hands.
Watch England's shape immediately after they lose the ball. Can the nearest players close the space together, or does a defender have to step out to cover a gap? That distinction should tell us more about the midfield partnership than a tidy sequence of sideways passes.
Croatia face a similar test when England move forward. If they draw several players towards the ball, the opposite side of the pitch may open up. Whether either team can use that space will depend on the selected players and their execution on the day. These are tactical questions, not a prediction of the result.
England begin the window at home to Spain on 26 September, then visit Czechia on 29 September before travelling to Croatia. They return to Wembley to face Czechia again on 6 October.
Croatia also play twice before this meeting, visiting Czechia and Spain. With both teams' earlier fixtures still to come at the time of writing, a firm assessment of form or the group table would be premature. Team news and the starting line-ups need another check nearer kick-off.
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Team-news sources checked on 25 September 2026. Squad announcements do not confirm the starting teams for 3 October.
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