One of the most unexpected World Cup rivalries has finally seen Croatia come out as the winner, but they've continued to take shots at Canada after the final whistle.
Canada have been knocked out of the World Cup after just two group matches after being beaten by both Belgium and Croatia, although they can still head home with their head held high. However, they'll also be leaving with a new unexpected rivalry with Croatia, after CanMNT head coach John Herdman started things off by claiming they'd "eff them up".
Croatia thrashed Canada 4-1 after Alphonso Davies initially put the North American side ahead, but Andrej Kramaric starred as he scored two goals for the 2018 runners-up. Kramaric then went out his way to thank the Canadian national side for giving them extra motivation, and it's all turned a bit ugly.
Ahead of Sunday's clash, Herdman made all of the headlines in Croatia as he gave an emotional post-match interview after Canada were beaten by Belgium. Canada were the better side in their World Cup opener, but lost 1-0 after failing to covert their chances, and Herdman fired Croatia a warning.
"I told them (Canada) they belong here and we’re going to go and eff--- Croatia," he said with a smile in FIFA’s official post-game pitchside interview. "That’s as simple as it gets."
And it didn't go down well, as a Croatian tabloid posted a fake naked picture of Herdman on the front page, with the question: "You have the mouth, but do you have the balls as well?" Ultimately, they didn't as they lost 4-1 and crashed out, and Croatia have celebrated sweetly after the game.
Kramaric was given the man of the match award for his role in the victory, and said: "I want to thank the Canada coach for the motivation. In the end, Croatia demonstrated who eff'd whom."
And even Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic added fuel to the fire, as he said: "I didn't see [Herdman] after the match. When I win, I congratulate the winner but he wasn't there. That is his way of doing things. He's obviously mad and it will take some time for him to learn some things."
But Herdman was gracious in defeat, and has reiterated ever since that emotion got the better of him after Canada lost to Belgium. "No [disrespect] at all," Herdman said.
"I could've been a little composed coming out of the huddle, but that's my learning, I'll take it on the chin." And even before the game, Herdman was honest and said it was a learning curve.
"Look I think those comments after the game, it was an emotional moment I had in the flash interview," Herdman said before kick-off. "I think it's a learning moment, I was a little bit too honest and you get those moments in your career."
