[ad_1]
England should have shown more humility, said Luka Modric at ITV. Somewhere a few meters away, Dejan Lovren announced as one of the best defenders in the world
Real Madrid's midfielder also revealed after Wednesday's semifinal win that his He and his teammates were motivated by the lack of respect towards the team by experts and members of the British press, all of whom seemed to assume that Croatia would be the second best in Moscow.
At the sound of things, it would be better to hope that the French do not have Croatian chains in their hotel rooms. Brian Kerr had the habit of telling the story of the coach he had come across at a conference of the Uefa in the late 90s, which he Is presented as "X, from Croatia – the country that finished third at the World Cup. "
Their final position may not yet be determined but, as Aleksandar Holiga reports in the Guardian on Wednesday, confidence is not left behind with one of the biggest TV presenters of the nation announcing that England was hit Miroslav Blazevic, former national team coach and former presidential candidate, questioned about the win in the semifinals, simply observed: "We celebrated the mother of the world. "19659005] Dejan Lovren said after the match that he was one of the best defenders in the world. Photo: Yuri Cortez / Getty Images" height = "348" src = "http: // www .irishtimes.com / polopoly_fs / 1.3563080! /image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_620/image.jpg "width =" 620 "/>
Football can be exciting, the history of the team is convincing but after all the English match, if Croatia continues like this, it can still be difficult to qualify for Sunday without turning around against the team that toppled England.
Their coach, to be fair, is a refreshing change from Gareth Southgate. The Englishman is friendly and, as has been emphasized many times, has behaved with considerable dignity over the last few weeks. But after the implacably serious and measured tone of his press conferences, it was very amusing on Wednesday night when Zlatko Dalic launched immediately after him and began settling accounts with those who had dared to predict an English victory
. who said that England would win; they are not at all experts because they were they would have known we were the best team (in all segments of the game, he said separately) and now we have it shown.
Dalic began by recalling his trip to France in 1998 to support the country's last generation of actors, the one who finished third in this World Cup.He was a professional player in the Croatian league at the time and had to return home to start training before the semifinal against France.
He was reminded of this game and the potential of Sunday to serve as the opportunity for Vengeance and played along with good mood as he suggested that "maybe the gentle lord gives us the chance to settle the score."
The religious reference may be a little more than a remark Dalic, 51, born in Livno, over the border in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is, like 85% of the Croatian population, Catholic.In a recent interview, he produced a series of rosaries which, according to him, were blessed in Medjugorje and that he claims to por hang around with him and sometimes hang on to games when the tension rises.
He could be forgiven today that someone up there is on his side. He was a surprise candidate to replace Ante Cacic last October, when the team had taken only four points in his last four games and could miss even a place in the play-offs for this World Cup, the World Cup. Federation President Davor Suker announced that things should be changed for the latest group game.
Dalic had worked with the Under-21 side for a spell and therefore knew some of the players, but most of his managerial experience was at the club level. Saudi Arabia and the UAE with respectively Al-Hilal and Al-Ain. He did well to the latter and the club narrowly missed an Asian Champions League trophy, but having previously denied the opportunity to coach Hajduk Split, where he had spent part of his career as a defensive midfielder, he was far from a shoo-in for the national team work.
Some of the most obvious candidates did not savor the prospect of taking orders two days before a match in Ukraine that the team simply could not lose, however. Dalic came back a little further, especially by moving Luka Modric further, which relieved the team captain and the biggest star of a little responsibility to drive the whole camp and Croatia won 2-0. Greece was then beaten 4-1 in the dams
. The coach 's relationship with Modric seems strong though he insists that he does not want to be the "friend" of the players. He certainly showed that when he decided to send striker Nikola Kalinic home early in the tournament after the 30-year-old refused to fight against Nigeria, he said that he had a back problem.
The move turned out to be popular with Dalic, who earns about € 550,000 a year, supposed to have asserted his control of the team. Few who question his authority and who himself attributes much of the success of the team to the talent of the players at his disposal, insisting that his goal is to allow them to play football then that he is busy with other things. do something good because they have reached a level of consistency here that had eluded them for years and showed a huge character coming three times in the knockout phases.
His 14th game will be a World Cup Final, Croatia. It's a remarkable thing. When he got the job, they did not seem to have a prayer. His only problem now is those back home who believe his side can not be beat. Maybe they could learn a lesson in English.
Source link
