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In my opinion, the bookies have made a huge mistake here as they put the Czechs as the favorites. The odds have been done based on previous result. The Czechs are not as strong as before as they rejuvenated their team. They're led by Havelkova and Havlickova and the rest of the squad is pretty young. They still have the quality but Croatia is stronger in individual terms, and I believe as a team as well as they have been preparing in Maribor for the past month. Judging by the statements from the Croatian team, the atmosphere is great and the absence of Poljak is the only handicap. Fabris and Alajbeg have what it takes to replace Popović while Topić wouldn't be in the starting team as it is. Croatia have gotten a nice confidence boost in their training game against Turkey. They are eager for a good game and they can't wait for the competition to start. I see this as at least a 50-50 game, and the stake would be even higher if this weren't the first game and pretty early in the day.