|
The convincing result at the Nizhny Novgorod
Stadium put Croatia into the second round for the first time
since their run to the semi-finals in their maiden World Cup
appearance in France in 1998.
The latest generation – headlined by the attacking skills of
Luka Modric, driving play of Ivan Rakitic and imposing presence
upfront of Mario Mandzukic – will be looking to emulate the
achievement of 20 years ago and will be fully entitled to do so
on the basis of their showing in Russia so far.
The individual quality of their key players was backed up by
solid wing back play and an understated, yet highly effective,
turn in midfield by Marcelo Brozovic, brought in to use his
speed to restrict space for Argentina's talisman Lionel Messi.
"This result and Argentina's poor display was due to our good
game, our compact block all over the pitch, particularly when we
didn't have the ball. We cut off the lines of passing, we wanted
to avoid Messi getting the ball... I believe that we played a
fantastic game," Modric told a news conference.
Thursday's victory followed an efficient display in their
opening game against Nigeria in Kaliningrad on Saturday where a
2-0 triumph laid a solid foundation.
UNIFIED GROUP
Not even the sending home of Nikola Kalinic on Monday – after he
refused to come on as a substitute against Nigeria – seemed to
put the squad off its stride, conversely serving only to unify
the group, according to Croatian media reports.
Croatia had shown glimpses of their potential at the last
European Championships in France two years ago when they beat
Spain but went out in the second round to eventual winners
Portugal after conceding in extra time.
They recovered from a patchy start – and brought in Zlatko Dalic
as coach late last year – to finish behind Iceland in their
qualifying group for Russia but in the November playoffs easily
disposed of Greece over two legs.
Croatia now look ahead to playing Iceland again in their last
Group D match in Rostov-on-Don on Tuesday and if they top the
standings will return to Nizhny Novgorod on July 1 to play the
runner-up in Group C in the last 16, hoping for rousing support
from the locals.
"I think that we will win over additional fans. Whoever watched
this match, whoever watched Croatia play, will surely start
rooting for Croatia," said Dalic.
(Editing by Christian Radnedge)
[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
 |
|
