The coach of the Croatian national football team, Zlatko Dalić, spoke in HRT’s Dnevnik about Croatia’s performance at the World Cup and various other topics.
The Croatian national team at the World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico will play in group L with England, Ghana and Panama. The team Zlatko Dalić will defend the world bronze from the WC in Qatar in 2022 and will try to achieve another great result. In the last representative break, Croatia beat Colombia (2:1) and lost to Brazil (3:1).
Before the appearance at the World Cup, they will play two friendly matches against Belgium (June 2) and Slovenia (June 7). He will play the first game against England on June 17 in Dallas, then against Panama on June 24 in Toronto and against Ghana on June 27 in Philadelphia. Zlatko Dalić spoke about Croatia’s performance at the WC and various topics in HRT’s Dnevnik.
Happy Easter to everyone on behalf of the national team. I think we have a lot of good things from America in these two games. We changed the system, we played with three at the back and now we have one more system, we can adapt depending on the opponent. We have sweet concerns, potential and versatility.
We have plenty of reasons for optimismbut we have to fix some things so it doesn’t happen again. We lose the ball and the opponent creates a chance for us. When that happens against big teams, they punish us. We must not concede goals as soon as we score them and in some parts of the game, we must not allow ourselves to do so.
Which World Cup team is he thinking about the most?
I think mostly of the Englisha great team, they are fantastic and had a great qualification. Defeat against Japan is not realistic, several players were missing, especially from Arsenal. It is our first game and the most important one, it will determine the further course of the championship and we have to be right. Ghana and Panama will be tricky, so we have to be careful.
We must always look to be better, that our excellence lasts. It has been going on for eight, nine years, but it should be kept. We need to be better day by day, it’s not easy to save and you should always be hungry and eager for results. It is difficult to repeat two medals in a row from the WC, many others cannot do it, and we do miracles and top things even though we are few. We have the quality that is needed.
Preliminaries and the responsibility of the selectors
We will have two preparatory games that will be very important for us. I hope that everyone will be healthy and that we will be against Belgium and Slovenia have a real test for SP. We will build a team, these are important matches that will not be without significance. We will get a lot from those two games.
About what it’s like to be the coach of the Croatian national team
It’s mine the greatest honor and pride to be a selectorbut I also carry the burden and responsibility. We are all choosers, we all know everythingbut that’s normal, that’s how it is here. We have to know how to deal with it, said Dalić, he reported Index.
(www.jabuka.tv | Photo: Marty Jean-Louis/Sipa USA/PIXSELL)
