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Ivan Rakitic (right) celebrates after his penalty beat Russia and set up a semi-final against England. – Photo AFP
Ivan Rakitic hopes that this Croatian team will be able to go one step further after having tied the country's heroes in 1998 by qualifying for the semi-finals of the World Cup.
Rakitic midfielder Croatia beat Russia 4-3 on penalties after a spectacular quarter-final in Sochi last Saturday at the end of extra time (2-2).
"We worked hard and gave everything we had to go into the semifinal, I think for a country like Croatia, it's impressive and we want to go further," Rakitic said. .
"We want to take advantage of this victory and not put more pressure with what happened in 1998. But we want to continue to write our own story and enjoy what we do, which is very positive. "
Croatia will face England in the last four in Moscow on Wednesday, while it aims to outdo the team of 20 years ago. At the time, they lost against the hosts of France in the last four.
"I hope we can surpass them, their generation is more than just heroes for us," Rakitic adds
. Croatia returned to Sochi, Andrej Kramaric canceling the opening of Denis Cheryshev, the match ending 1-1 after 90 minutes.
Domagoj Vida then led Zlatko Dalic At the end of the match, Mario Fernandes scored a double in the 115th minute
but Rakitic allowed Croatia to impose in the penalty shoot-out, his second straight after defeating Denmark on penalties. They must recover quickly from an exhausting night before facing England, who had beaten Sweden 2-0 on Saturday.
"We like playing against big teams as we have shown against Argentina," insisted defender Dejan Lovren
"England is one of the favorites to win the World Cup and you have to respect that, but we have nothing to lose, we will enjoy this game and hope we can make history. "
Lovren added that he was confident that the right back Sime Vrsaljko would recover from the muscle injury that forced him to leave in overtime against Russia. – AFP
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