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They have experience, bags of talent and we do not doubt their fighting spirit, but it is strangely missing something at the Croatian team that reached the semifinals of the Cup FIFA World Cup for the second time in its history. Croatia became only the second team to win consecutive shots at the World Cup, following in Argentina's footsteps in 1990, when they beat Russia 4-3 on Saturday to follow their victory over the Denmark in the previous round. of these overall performances, however, deserved potential winners of the World Cup, and they did not seem to do justice to the quality of the selection of Croatia, which is one of the most gifted of Russia.
Journalist, Russia is a traveling road show
Fourteen members of their team are based in the first five European leagues – England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France – including Luka Modric and Mateo Kovacic at Real Madrid, Ivan Rakitic in Barcelona and Mario Mandzukic at Juventus
When Croatia stormed the group stage with nine points in three matches, they did indeed look like serious contenders.
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But the spark seems to have been eliminated in the round of 16 and they had to rely more on resilience for measure to less talented opponents.
Coach Zlatko Dalic attacking intentions against Russia.
Modric and talented Rakitic were lined up in midfield midfielder, with no defensive cover, and there were two wingers in Ante Rebic and Ivan Perisic and two attacking centers in Manduzkic and Andrej Kramaric. But that did not work out as planned. Luka Modric is thrilled to go through another tragedy at the 2018 FIFA World Cup
Croatia's long holding periods were largely unproductive, the last pbad was invariably missing and they were surprised by the approach aggressive of Russia
. "We were mined in the midfield," said Dalic. "We were only allowed to hit long balls, this is not how Croatia plays, it is not our style."
Going to extra time and penalties meant using precious reserves of energy that could potentially disadvantage them in their semifinal on Wednesday when they will face a team from England who sailed to 20 win over Sweden.
"There were times when we ran out of energy: 240 minutes of football in six days cost you dearly," said Modric, who, like Mandzukic and Rakitic, is in his thirties.
Dalic, "Of course, there is a bit of power for the English – we will not stop, we will try to play our best game," he said.
"We have two games to play, we are very motivated, we will give everything."
And if all else fails, Croatia can still go into a penalty shoot-out knowing that it will come out victorious.
"The match against Russia is yet another victory for our character.We have nerves of steel," said Kramaric. "We showed how calm and confident we are, maybe the match was not the most beautiful, but we will remember it."
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