Chelsea midfielder Mateo Kovacic was praised for his standout display in the first half of Croatia's match against Canada.
Zlatko Dalic's side came from behind to lead John Herdman's team 2-1 at the break and Kovacic was the man pulling the strings as Canada put their focus towards stopping Luka Modric.
The two midfielders both played together at Real Madrid and front one of the best trios at the tournament with Inter Milan's Marcelo Brozovic making up the third prong of an often dominant set-up. In the aim of breaking this up, Herdman's men marked Modric closely but allowed Kovacic the room to display his huge talents.
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Speaking at half-time, Micah Richards raved about the 28-year-old, saying: "Wow, he's been the best player on the pitch by far. If it's defending, if it's attacking. Just nullifying that threat from Canada because they did outnumber them in that first half at time.
"I love the way he's so balanced, he gets into little pockets of space and doesn't rush when he's on the ball. Just controlling the tempo of the game, nullifying the threat, knowing when to stay, when to go and he's the one." Kovacic has been dealing with injury issues since the summer and has struggled in an unbalanced Blues midfield. He rarely gets the chance to play in a three man system anymore but that is the role he first made his name and impressed as a loanee in 2018/19.
"I thought it was going to be Modric," Richards added. "But it's actually Kovacic that's been the shining light and everything good Croatia have done has come through him. A lot of people think he's only getting the ball here but he's getting it because the kind of players don't want to get near him and then he's got the time to dictate what he wants to do.
"When it gets into the attacking areas, has he got the pass? Of course he has. His whole game has been terrific, it really has."
Despite initially falling behind to Alphonso Davies' header, goals from Andrej Kramaric and Marko Livaja helped Croatia into a half-time lead, but Kovacic's experience on the biggest stage was key to the 2018 runners up moving ahead.
"It's just that control," Richards raved. "Sometimes It's been a bit frantic out there and you need someone to put their foot on the ball and dictate the play and that's what he's been doing."
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