Croatia boss Zlatko Dalic and legend Luka Modric will be leading their nation into another World Cup meeting with England this summer(Image: Michael Regan – FIFA)
Croatia boss Zlatko Dalic is one of football’s great against-the-odds success stories.
And that is exactly why England will be on red alert ahead of their Group L opener in Dallas on June 17.
Croatia are currently 11th in the FIFA world rankings and have enough history with England to make Thomas Tuchel feel wary about their first opponents.
Dalic, 59, said: “From the first pot we got one of the toughest national teams, England. It’s a bit unfortunate that we’re playing them in the opening match, which is the most important one because it sets the tone at the start. We’ll have to be ready for that match.”
England met Croatia in their opening game of the Euros in 2021 when Raheem Sterling scored the winner at Wembley, and it set the tone alright.
Gareth Southgate’s men went on to reach the final that summer and took so much heart and confidence from beating a dangerous opponent.
But it was Croatia who broke England’s hearts in the 2018 World Cup semi-final. And it was Croatia who won at Wembley in 2007 to stop Steve McClaren – on his infamous Wally with the Brolly night – reaching Euro 2008.
That was the last time England failed to reach a major tournament.
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This time, there is almost an expectation that England will win, top the Group and follow their “tennis-style” seeding path to the semifinals and beyond.
But if ever there was a team capable of upsetting the best laid plans, then it is Croatia. Why? Because they are one of football’s perennial overachievers.
For a country with a population of less than four million, they have a remarkable football pedigree. One of the all-time greats in Luka Modric. Still going at 40 and his career has mirrored Croatia’s journey. They have shared the highs and lows together.
Mateo Kovačić has struggled for fitness but is key. Josko Gvardiol is another with injury worries ahead of the World Cup.
But Manchester City defender Gvardiol represents part of Croatia’s new era. And Dalic’s whole message about this tournament has been about embracing a new era.
“We have players coming through, great talent and new players ready to step up and be the next generation,” said Dalic.
“We have great experience, younger players but still a determination to win and our target is to go past the Group stage and into the knock-out.
“We believe we can do it. It will not be easy and we will never underestimate our opponents.”
WATCH: Check out episode two of our World Cup podcast Make Football Great Again
Let us not forget that Croatia reached the 2018 World Cup final. They lost to Argentina in the semi-finals in Qatar. That was the World Cup when Gvardiol showed his quality on the biggest stage and Manchester City signed him the next summer.
But this era was really founded amid the depths of despair. It was in 2017 and Croatia were on the brink. After they dropped points at home to Finland, it was win-or-bust against Ukraine in their final qualifier for the 2018 World Cup.
Croatia legend Davor Suker, the nation’s FA president at the time, took an incredible gamble as he sacked Ante Cacic and brought in Dalic from relative nowhere.
Modric had never even met Dalic before. The former Hadjuk Split midfielder had spent the previous seven years managing in relative football backwaters of United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Albania.
The Croatian FA were aware of him because he had been an assistant coach at under-21 level but Dalic took the job without a contract but with the understanding that if he led them to the World Cup then the job would be his.
After winning in Ukraine, they got past Greece in the pay-offs and the rest is history. He is a shrewd tactician. He has taken Croatia way beyond their own dreams.
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Croatia now dare to dream. They feed on people writing them off. As England prepared to face Croatia in the 2018 semi-final, Modric seized on what he thought was England’s arrogance with that whole “football’s coming home” mentality.
Modric built up a siege mentality by viewing it as English entitlement. The story does not match up at all with how that song is viewed in England.
That song was created by Baddiel and Skinner as the antidote to all those years or hurt and disappointment. We were laughing at our own failure.
It was just surprising that so many foreign broadcasters and journalists – even those who have lived in the UK for years – did not understand the English sense of humour.
Either way, Croatia used it, and it was Dalic who outsmarted former England boss Southgate and came from 1-0 down to boss the midfield and then win it in extra time. His future has been a discussion point again but Dalic is contracted until after the World Cup.
When England, fourth seeds and ranked fourth by FIFA, were drawn against Croatia, Ghana and Panama, many saw it as another favourable draw.
Tuchel and the FA just do not see it like that. They regard Croatia as a huge threat and fear, if England are not careful, they could easily slip up.
There is a genuine worry about the opener and if England get a bad result then it could set a very different tone and path for Tuchel’s World Cup hopes.
