Croatia’s midfielder Luka Modric is greeted by coach Zlatko Dalic as he leaves the pitch. AFP
Zlatko Dalic rated Croatia’s World Cup run a “great success’ despite his team’s 3-0 defeat to Argentina in the first semi-final on Tuesday.
The Balkan side was hoping to play their second consecutive World Cup final but was outclassed by Lionel Messi-led La Albiceleste at the Lusail Stadium.
While Dalic hailed Messi’s match-winning performance in which he scored from a spot kick and set up Julian Alvarez’s second goal, the Croatian coach was full of praise for his team’s run in the tournament.
Croatia entered the knockout stage after advancing from a group topped by Morocco and also comprised second-ranked Belgium and Canada.
They defeated Japan on penalties in the Round of 16 before knocking hot favourites Brazil out in shootout to enter the semi-finals.
“If someone had offered us this before the World Cup, we would have accepted it, this is a great success for the Croatian national team and we are proud,” Dalic said after the defeat and added his team must play to secure third position in the World Cup.
“I told the players they need to keep their head up, be proud of doing your maximum and be ready, be prepared to fight for third place (on Saturday)... We have to be psychologically ready to play against France or Morocco,” he said.
The coach said his team countered the “true Messi” in the semi-final and hailed Messi for his performance.
“I congratulate Argentina on reaching the final,” he said.
“Messi is the best player in the world, he was dangerous and he has quality,” Dalic said. “He has technique and put in a high level performance, it was the true Messi we expected to see.
“Argentina have an excellent team and Messi being a player of such quality and with thousands of supporters behind him, they play as they best see fit.
“Today they had four midfielders in the middle and we tried to play aggressively. But Messi can make one move and make a difference, which he did for the third goal,” the 56-year-old added.
Dalic said Croatia had good moments in the semi-final but they failed to capitalise on them.
“Sometimes luck favours you, sometimes not. That’s the way it is. We have nothing to complain about,” he said.
“We had a lot of good situations, but we weren’t mobile,” he added.
“Especially in the attacking phase, we weren’t concrete. We lacked that one real attacker to break through. We didn’t do it.”
(With inputs from Reuters)
