In his first season at SC Freiburg, Igor Matanovic developed from a substitute to a regular starter. Now he's off to the World Cup with Croatia – as a reserve. It took him half a year to become an indispensable player for SC Freiburg, but he's not in the starting lineup for the World Cup. Matanovic has impressed in the Bundesliga, but he won't start at the World Cup. The 23-year-old striker has scored 11 goals in the Bundesliga season, three in the Europa League, and one in the DFB-Pokal. His performance has increased his market value to 22 million euros, according to transfermarkt.de. Matanovic has also made it into the Croatian national team's World Cup squad. The team, led by 40-year-old star Luka Modric, will face extremely strong opponents in the group stage of the World Cup in the USA, Canada, and Mexico. In addition to the English team led by Thomas Tuchel, Ghana and Panama are waiting for the Croats. Matanovic will likely find himself in a role he hasn't held for half a year at Freiburg: as a reserve. The 23-year-old striker is not currently in the starting lineup. He watched the first test game (0:2 against Belgium) from the bench and was substituted at halftime in the World Cup warm-up game against Slovenia (2:1-Last-Minute-Sieg for Croatia). Matanovic will likely start on the bench at the start of the XXL tournament on June 17 against England. He has already proven himself in his first season at SC Freiburg, and he will likely be able to handle this role and grow out of it over time.