The Croatian national football team continued the Rijeka part of their preparations for the World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the USA, and on the eve of the last preparatory match against Slovenia in Varaždin on June 7.
Marin Pongracic once again reflected on the friendly match with Belgium.
We had our opportunities which we failed to take advantage and it is certain that there is still a lot of room for improvement in our game. We didn’t play with three players in the back line that often, but I think it all looked very solid. We played against a serious team, with serious quality. We have analyzed the match, we will devote ourselves to it for a few more days and we turn to the next game. How was the analysis? These were individual segments, of a tactical nature, we analyzed individual mistakes, pointed out that we can play some situations better, the way we play pressing… Classic analysis of the match, nothing dramatic.
About the second goal against Belgium…
Of course yes it is not desirable to make a mistake in opening the game, it wasn’t the first time that we conceded a goal in the last minutes and we have to avoid that, but the behavior of the two of us at that moment had to be better. Maybe we could have prevented the worst after that loose ball, but Lukaku is an excellent player, very fast and at that moment we didn’t have time to close him down. Maybe it’s better if it happened to us now and it served as a warning, than if it happened to us at the World Cup. We were losing 0:1, we wanted to score an equalizing goal, that’s logical. We have a good back line, good defenders and we are prepared for anything.
About the club season…
The first part of the season was very bad, but we are managed to stay in the league. I’m happy with my game and minutes, it’s a shame that we didn’t manage to reach the semi-finals of the Conference League, but Crystal Palace was a great opponent.
About the motive against England at the opening of the World Cup…
A great honor and privilegethat’s the maximum that can be reached in a football career, every boy’s dream and that’s it. Whoever is in front of us, we want to win the game and do the maximum.
About the attitude towards Croatia and growing up in the diaspora…
I grew up in Germany, but we spoke Croatian at home. We watched Croatian TV channels, I even went to a Croatian school and we have a mass in the Croatian language. That’s why I always wanted to play only for Croatia. Simply put, you either have that feeling or you don’t. it was announced from HNS-a.
(www.jabuka.tv | Photo: X)
