Russia 2018: Strinic named in Croatia squad, Zapata misses out

There was both good news and bad news for Sampdoria’s World Cup hopefuls today, as the definitive squads were named for Croatia and Colombia.

After the 2-0 defeat to Brazil in a recent friendly, Croatia head coach Zlatko Dalic released his 23-man final squad and there was a spot reserved for defender Ivan Strinic. The Vatreni play Senegal in another friendly on Friday before their group-stage campaign gets under way against Nigeria on 16 June, followed up by matches against Argentina on 21 June and Iceland on 26 June.

Sadly, Duvan Zapata was not so lucky and missed out on Jose Pekerman’s final Colombia squad. The Blucerchiati frontman made his international debut during the qualifiers, but despite an excellent club season has failed to make the cut for the World Cup in Russia.