Zlatko Dalic had greatness on his mind and it transpired that he was not really talking about Lionel Messi. He was contemplating the prospect of the greatest of all time, but he was not referencing Argentina’s No 10. Not directly, anyway, because Messi could prevent Dalic from rewriting Croatian history again.
Indeed, perhaps it is the presence of Argentina in Tuesday’s semi-final that makes Dalic believe victory would render it the finest day in Croatia’s footballing history. He has already won a match in the last four of this competition, overcoming England in 2018 and it was entirely in character for his team that they did it the hard way, after coming from behind. But the quarter-final penalty shootout triumph over Brazil also felt particularly prestigious, in part because it was Brazil.
“For me, the semi-final against England was the greatest [Croatia] match of all time, the match against Brazil comes in second and tomorrow’s will be third,” Dalic said. “It is one of the most important and most significant. After only four years to repeat such success on the world stage with a new team is quite fantastic. If we manage to win tomorrow that would make it the greatest historical game of all time for Croatia.”
If they win, they would become the first team to reach successive World Cup finals since Brazil in 1994, 1998 and 2002. If, that is, they can be classed as the same side. Dalic likes to point out how 18 of his squad were not in Russia four years ago: constants like Luka Modric, Ivan Perisic, Mateo Kovacic and Marcelo Brozovic can obscure the fact that, despite their smaller talent pool, Croatia have been able to regenerate. A showdown at the Lusail could nevertheless appear the duel of Modric, in his fourth World Cup, and Messi, in his fifth.
Croatia are the underdogs, but that seems to be how they prefer it. They ranked 29th out of 32 countries in Qatar for population, with more people only than Uruguay, Wales and the host nation. Yet in the 21st century, only Germany, the Netherlands, France and Croatia have reached back-to-back World Cup semi-finals. Dalic can be forgiven for underlining the scale of the achievement.
“We are among the four best teams in the world,” he added. “That is an extraordinary success for Croatia: two World Cups in a row to be among the four best teams. However, we want more. We are playing the great Argentina, led by Lionel Messi and they are under greater pressure than Croatia.”
Pressure can be conferred by expectations and less was expected of Croatia; certainly by the wider world, but also by Dalic himself, especially given the circumstances when he took charge. In October 2017, Croatia needed victory over Ukraine in their final group to even finish second in their group, behind Iceland. Having secured that, then they required a play-off against Greece to book their place in Russia.
“Quite honestly, I could not have imagined that I would come so far, to be the head coach of Croatia in two World Cups, leading them in the finals and semi-finals,” he said. “I thought this was a place reserved for other actors. My pride has no limits. The sky has no limits.”
The precedent they set in 2018 means that, while Brazil were hot favourites to beat them in the quarter-final, Croatia are not the underdog tale of this World Cup.
Rather, their first opponents are. “Morocco, a lot of you were not very satisfied and now see how far Morocco has made it,” Dalic reflected even if, beyond the obduracy of both sides, an initial stalemate may have offered few clues of the progress each could make.
Yet he thinks Morocco have a pertinence. Their 2018 victims included two former winners, in Argentina and England, plus the hosts, Russia. Long before they eliminated Brazil, he believes they encouraged other outsiders to feel the impossible was possible. Perhaps they set the scene for a World Cup of shocks now.
“Everyone in life has a right to make dreams, the Croatian national team four years ago make that dream a reality for all small countries and we gave the other countries the right to have those dreams,” Dalic said.
“Four years ago no one expected Croatia to be in the final and they were led by our quality and our example. All others are following our example. Morocco is no exception.”
But now Croatia, the exceptions to the rule, look for another exceptional result.
