Victory will seal Croatia's place at Euro 2024 on Tuesday evening, as they host Group D rivals Armenia in their final qualifying fixture.
The teams convene at Stadion Maksimir with the home side only needing to match the result of Wales in order to secure their spot in Germany; the visitors, meanwhile, have already been eliminated.
Lovro Majer and Andrej Kramaric both struck within the first 20 minutes at Riga's Skonto Stadion, and the recent World Cup bronze-medallists then cruised to victory shortly after their Welsh counterparts were restricted to one point in Armenia.
Having slipped up twice last month, with back-to-back defeats against group winners Turkey and then Wales, Croatia can now qualify directly for next summer's Euros if they take maximum points in midweek - or even if they draw or lose and Turkey deny Wales a win.
Nonetheless, long-serving coach Zlatko Dalic - who has led his nation so close to unprecedented glory over the past few years - will be acutely aware that the UEFA Nations League runners-up cannot afford to be complacent.
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