Coach Dalic: 'Never underestimate Croatia'
"Japan thought the match was over when they took the lead," Croatian newspaper 24sata quoted Dalic as saying. "They think it's easy to meet Croatia. But never underestimate Croatia. When someone looks down on us, they will regret it. We may not be strong but we always keep our faith and fight to the end." .
This is not the first time Dalic has said that his opponent looks down on Croatia. After defeating England 2-1 in the 2018 World Cup semi-final in Russia, he also said that "the generation of Croatian players is being looked down upon". Croatia's 2018 squad has only eight players left for the 2022 World Cup.
Japan opened the scoring in the 43rd minute thanks to striker Daizen Maeda, but Ivan Perisic headed the equalizer for Croatia 55 minutes into the match. The two teams didn't score until the end of extra time, and had to take a penalty shootout. Goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic became a Croatian hero when he pushed three penalties from Takumi Minamino, Kaoru Mitoma and Maya Yoshida, helping Croatia win 3-1 and reach the quarter-finals against Brazil.
Coach Dalic said that the home team had many difficulties in the first half because Japan "played closely with the 5-4-1 block in favor of defense", while Croatia "made it difficult for themselves". The 56-year-old coach revealed that the secret to helping Croatia play well in the second half was "no longer playing short balls".
"I have no complaints about the Croatian boys," he added. "There are problems that we can't solve right away, but that's okay, because Japan also won against Germany and Spain."
Midfielder captain Luka Modric also said that Croatia could not continue without the dramatic element. "The match against Japan really exhausted us, because they are a formidable opponent," he added.
Croatia reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup for the third time after 1998 and 2018. They will meet Brazil in the next match at Education City, Al Rayyan city on December 9. "We will play openly against Brazil, because this is the time for Croatia to make history," Dalic insisted.
