Croatia ended their World Cup campaign with the pride of claiming third place in a 2-1 win against Morocco, which marked the end of a journey but also promised a bright future, coach Zlatko Dalic said on Saturday.
Croatia, runners-up in 2018, prevailed with goals by Josko Gvardiol and Mislav Orsic to end their World Cup on a high as Luka Modric possibly bid farewell to the soccer extravaganza.
Croatia beat Brazil in the quarter-finals, but for Dalic, Saturday’s bronze medal game was the highlight of their tournament.
“It was a difficult, great match. I want to extend my congratulations to Morocco, they put up a great fight until the last minute, despite the fatigue.
“They can be proud, they remind me of us four years ago. We’re among the best teams in the world.”
Croatia can now look forward to the future with confidence.
“It’s the end of a cycle for us, the end of a journey. Tonight’s match and the win is the moment of the tournament for us,” said Dalic.
“Yes, this is the last World Cup for some of my players today due to their age. But we have young players in the team and it is great for Croatia,” he added, referring to man of the match Josko Gvardiol, but also Lovro Majer and Borna Sosa.
“We have many of the players on the bench, too.”
Dalic, however, is still counting on his old guard for the Nations League and the Euro 2024 qualifiers.
“We would not have been that far without our older players. We have a great future, Croatia has nothing to fear. Is it the end of an era for a generation? Well, we still have the Nations League and the Euro qualifiers. All I know is that Croatia has a bright future.”
While the proud nation of only 3.8 million people is meager compared to the 9 million living in Tehran only, its football pedigree is something to be proud of. Finalist in the last tournament and third-place winner in the current 2022 edition, the Croats must be feeling elated and proud of their achievements. One person who was robbed of being a happy and proud man is non-other than Dragan Skočić. The Croat former head coach of Team Melli was unceremoniously removed from his post following the return of Mehdi Taj. After taking Iran to the World Cup finals, his reward was dismissal. The win for his country must at least have given Skočić some sense of justice and relief, while Mehdi Taj and his failed team are pondering what to do next, perhaps figure out a trick to reinstate the perpetual failure coach to ruin Iranian football again, this time in Asia Cup 2023.