Matt Doherty is backing Tottenham Hotspur teammate Ivan Perisic to score against Canada today – but thinks Croatia are in for a tough day.
Croatia opened their World Cup campaign with a rather drab 0-0 draw against Morocco.
As for Canada, they turned in an outstanding performance against Belgium but just couldn’t score and were beaten 1-0.
Croatia – who looked a little slow against Morocco at times – need to be very wary of slipping up against a very fast and dynamic Canada side.
Matt Doherty backs Ivan Perisic to score
This feels like the last chance on the World Cup stage for a few Croatia players.
Luka Modric is 37 and likely won’t play at the 2026 World Cup whilst Dejan Lovren and Ivan Perisic will be 36 and 37 respectively by the time the next World Cup starts.
There is emerging talent in the likes of Borna Sosa, Josko Gvardiol and Lovro Majer but Croatia will be looking towards their experienced performers today.
Perisic looks likely to feature in attack today, likely joining Nikola Vlasic in flanking one of Andrej Kramaric, Marko Livaja, Bruno Petkovic or Ante Budimir.
The 33-year-old hasn’t found the net even once for Tottenham Hotspur since joining from Inter Milan over the summer.
Perisic has so much attacking quality – he scored 10 times for Inter Milan last season – but the goals just aren’t flowing in England.
In fact, Perisic’s last Croatia goal came in November 2021 so the veteran is going through something of a drought for club and country.
Perisic at least has some support from teammate Matt Doherty on this front.
Doherty has told Tottenham’s official website that he thinks Perisic will find the net Croatia against Canada today.
However, Doherty believes that this will be closer than people think and Canada may be able to snatch a draw against Perisic’s Croatia.
“Croatia-Canada will be tighter than people think, a draw wouldn’t shock me but Croatia really need a win – Ivan Perisic to score,” said Doherty.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
