Croatia announce new-look World Cup squad and include just five players from starting XI that beat England in 2018

CROATIA have announced their 26-man squad for the World Cup – with only five survirors from the team that beat England in 2018.

Four years ago, Mario Mandzukic’s extra-time strike sent the Three Lions home at the semi-final stage and the Vatreni into their first major final.

Ultimately, a Kylian Mbappe-inspired France ended their dream following a 4-2 victory at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.

But Croatia are back for more after topping their qualification group.

And Zlatko Dalic’s side will be hoping to go one better and win the tournament for the first time.

However, they’ve left out more than half of the starting XI from the 2-1 win over England.

Semi-final hero Mandzukic retired from international football and is therefore not involved.

Meanwhile, despite still playing regularly for Sevilla, Ivan Rakitic hung up his Croatian boots in 2019.

But 37-year-old Luka Modric, who recently confirmed that Qatar will be his final World Cup, has been picked, as has Tottenham’s Ivan Perisic.

The other survivors from the game are ex-Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren, Domagoj Vida and Inter Milan star Marcelo Brozovic.

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Croatia has been drawn in a testing group alongside Belgium, Canada and Morocco.

And the 2018 finalists get their campaign underway against Morocco on 23 November.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk