Seniority is a degree when talking about centrals. It is enough to take a look at the defenses of the big clubs and national teams to make sure that the coaches are looking for expert markers. Otamendi is 34 years old, Thiago Silva is close to 40, Van Dijk is over 30 (31, the same age as Koulibaly) and Alaba, who did not play in Qatar, has also entered the club of three decades.
Then there is the small group of Varane (29), Marquinhos, Stones and Laporte (28) or the interista Skriniar (27), another who did not qualify for the World Cup, who already accumulate baggage. Meanwhile, Araújo, Koundé, Militão, Upamecano and De Ligt –24 the oldest, 23 the youngest– have been going strong. But none reached the haste of Josko Gvardiol, who at the age of 20 is the head of Croatia's defense and leads Leipzig's in the Bundesliga. His security on the court and his elegance with the ball have made him a star at the age that others are beginning to stand out.
Livakovic, the goalkeeper of the Croatian team, has only conceded one goal in the World Cup and it is partly thanks to the great defensive work of Gvardiol, which also earned him the Associated Press agency to include him in its ideal 11 of the first phase.
No action as saving as the one that prevented Lukaku's goal in the previous game. The 92nd minute was running and the center-back threw himself to the ground to put his left boot in extremis and take the shot from the Belgian striker. That goal would have qualified the Red Devils. But who will really be in the round of 16 at the Al Yanub Stadium against Japan will be Croatia.
Nicknamed little Pep, due to the similarity of his last name with that of Manchester City's Catalan coach, some say that Gvardiol plays in a tuxedo, due to his vision of the game and the precision of his left foot (205 passes completed). Others see in him the leadership of Drazen Petrovic, due to his way of ordering the team and his competitiveness. And it is inevitable to look at his imposing physique. In case he was missing something, the mask with which he plays in the World Cup gives even more fierceness to his appearance. On November 9, he broke his nose when colliding with his partner Orban. His face was swollen and his eye was black. "He looks like a boxer after the 12th round," defined Rose, his coach at Leipzig. But for nothing was going to miss the big date. After three days he was already playing with the protection.
But there are gestures that give him away and that reveal his youth. After getting into the round of 16 in his first World Cup, Gvardiol took off his mask and approached the stands to greet a woman. They both hugged each other and the player couldn't suppress a tear. She was his mother. And he, off the field, behaved like the 20-year-old son that he is.
Since he was seven he has played soccer. "If at 20 years old he is not an international, someone should be in prison," said his coach at the Dinamo Zagreb youth academy, Dalibor Poldrugac, who was the first to place him at the center of the rear. He was not wrong. No one will have to be behind bars. At 19 he already played in the Euro Cup, although he did it as a left back, given his versatility (he lost 3-5 against Spain in the round of 16). He now he already shows stripes. And in the Champions League he scored a goal for Madrid.
“He is the best defender in the world”, praises coach Zlatko Dalic. "And if he isn't, he will be." Leipzig, who paid 19 million, has already renewed him until 2027 and in the summer he rejected an offer of 80 million from Chelsea.
The checkers always stand out for their attacking players. In 1998 they were third with Suker, Prosinecki, Boban and Jarni. In 2018 they reached the final led by Modric, Perisic and Brozovic but also with Rakitic and Mandzukic. But they had never had a defender this dominant.
