The World Cup group stage is very close to its end and two European teams will battle on Thursday - Croatia and Belgium. In Group F, Croatia is the best team with four points while Belgium is the 3rd best team with three points. If the game ends with a draw or the Croatian win, then they will advance to the next round. Belgium will advance to the next round with a win or a draw but then Canada needs to beat Morocco with at least 4 goal difference.

In this game, I'm picking Croatia not to lose. They started the tournament badly as they drew with Morocco but on Sunday, they crushed the Canadiens 4:1. Belgium was bad against Canada but managed to win while in the 2nd game they lost to Morocco and that caused some riots in Brussels and other cities. Belgium manager Roberto Martínez said his side played against Morocco with the fear of losing.

Croatia so far has played better in this tournament as they had a total of 18 shots with 12 on target and an xG rating of 2.30. Belgium has a total of 19 shots in the group stage of which 6 have been on target with an xG rating of 1.60. Croatia, ranked 12th in the world by FIFA, boasts a strong run of form heading into Thursday's contest, as they are unbeaten in their last eight matches across all competitions, while they have also lost only one of their last 18 internationals since Euro 2020.

The Golden era for these Belgium players is coming to end and they feel the pressure. Frictions within the Belgium camp have allegedly emerged after the last game, with recent media reports claiming that Romelu Lukaku had to intervene to break up a post-match dressing room bust-up between Kevin De Bruyne and Jan Vertonghen. This shows that there are some issues inside the team camp and that isn't a good sign. De Bruyne's eyebrow-raising claims that he and his teammates are "too old" to win the World Cup have not helped Belgium's cause.

Belgium has beaten Croatia in the last two meetings but then the situation was different. The Croatians have played better so far and there is no locker-room drama. There were some concerns about their ability to play after the first game, but they showed that they are ready to at least repeat the outcome that was four years ago.

本译文使用有道机器翻译，仅供参考：

世界杯小组赛已经接近尾声，两支欧洲球队将在星期四交锋——克罗地亚和比利时。在F组中，克罗地亚以4分排名第一，比利时以3分排名第三。如果比赛以平局或克罗地亚获胜结束，那么他们将晋级下一轮。比利时只要一胜一平就能晋级下一轮，但加拿大需要以至少4个净胜球的优势击败摩洛哥。

这场比赛，我选克罗地亚不输。在与摩洛哥战平后，他们开局不佳，但在周日，他们4:1大胜加拿大人。比利时在与加拿大的比赛中表现不佳，但还是取得了胜利，而在第二场比赛中他们输给了摩洛哥，这在布鲁塞尔和其他城市引发了一些骚乱。比利时主帅罗伯托Martínez说，他的球队在对阵摩洛哥的比赛中担心输球。

到目前为止，克罗地亚在本届比赛中表现较好，他们总共有18次射门，其中12次射正，xG评分为2.30。比利时在小组赛中总共有19次射门，其中6次射正，xG评分为1.60。克罗地亚队在国际足联排名第12位，在周四的比赛前状态强劲，他们在所有赛事的最近8场比赛中保持不败，而他们自2020年欧洲杯以来的最近18场国际比赛中只输了一场。

这些比利时球员的黄金时代即将结束，他们感到了压力。比利时阵营内部的摩擦据说在上一场比赛之后就出现了，最近的媒体报道称卢卡库不得不出面调停凯文·德布鲁因和简·维尔通亨在赛后更衣室的争吵。这表明团队阵营内部存在一些问题，这不是一个好迹象。德布鲁因声称他和他的队友“太老了”而不能赢得世界杯，这令人瞠目。

比利时在过去的两次交锋中击败了克罗地亚，但是情况不同了。到目前为止，克罗地亚踢得更好，更衣室里也没有发生什么戏剧性的事情。在第一场比赛后，人们对他们的比赛能力有些担心，但他们表现出了他们已经做好了准备，至少可以重复四年前的结果。