World Cup CHECK | Croatia – From shaky candidate to insider tip

The permanent finals guest, who has been represented at ten of twelve European and World Championships since 1996, thinks he has good chances in a group with Argentina, Iceland and Nigeria. Qualifying for Russia was not a sure-fire success.

As in the previous European Championship qualification, the coach was replaced before the end of the qualification. Ante Cacic, who inherited Niko Kovac in 2015, made way for Zlatko Dalic before the final and decisive group game in October 2017. Croatia ultimately won the game against direct rivals Ukraine 2-0 and made it into the play-offs as second behind Iceland. There they acted confidently again and forced the Greeks to stay at home with 4:1 and 0:0.

A first success for Dalic, who now wants to continue on the world stage. “My dream has come true,” enthused the 51-year-old, for whom it is also the clear highlight in terms of his job. Previously, the former first division player only worked as a coach at smaller clubs in his home country or in Albania and the Arab world. Dalic now has one of the ten most valuable squads in the World Cup, full of big names. The heart of his squad, which consists largely of legionnaires, is the midfield, which has two real greats in Luka Modric (Real Madrid) and Ivan Rakitic (FC Barcelona). Another Real Madrid legionnaire is available in the 24-year-old Linz native and former LASK youth player Mateo Kovacic.

Serie A trio in the storm Thanks to Mario Mandzukic (Juventus Turin), Ivan Perisic (Inter Milan) and Nikola Kalinic (AC Milan), the attack is also well staffed. With Salzburg's central defender Duje Caleta-Car, a Bundesliga kicker also appeared in the extended squad. The 21-year-old has been in the team squad four times so far, but has never been substituted on. It is strange that in the World Cup group stage we will face Iceland again, who we beat 2-0 at home in qualifying and lost 0-1 away. In any case, Dalic was optimistic. “I believe that the pride and patriotism that our kickers show when playing for Croatia is a very important attribute,” said the team boss. “We have to combine that with our quality. If we can do that, we have a good chance of achieving our goals.”

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World Cup CHECK | Croatia – From shaky candidate to insider tip

20 years after the sensational third place at the World Cup in France, Croatia is once again planning big things at the World Cup in Russia.

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