Zlatko Dalic has cranked up the mind games ahead of his side’s semi-final clash with Argentina by claiming ALL the pressure is on Lionel Messi and his team-mates.
And the Croatian manager says victory in the Lusail Stadium would top their win over England at the same stage of the tournament four years ago.
Dalic said: “We are playing the great Argentina, a terrific team led by Lionel Messi, they are highly-motivated but under more pressure than Croatia at this moment in time. They have more support than us and that is a handicap to us but they are under greater pressure than us.”
Incredibly, this is Croatia’s second successive appearance in the last four of the World Cup, with Dalic highlighting the win over England in Moscow as his nation’s proudest moment.
He said: “The semi final-match against England in the last World Cup was the greatest match of all time, the game against Brazil (in the quarter-finals here) comes in second. If we win against Argentina, that would make it the greatest historical game for Croatia of all time.
“It is one of the most important, most significant matches for us - after just four years, to repeat the success would be such an achievement on the world stage. To do it with a new national team is fantastic and I believe it is a great success.”
Both Croatia and Argentina had to go to penalty shootouts to stay in the tournament with Lionel Scaloni’s side surrendering a two-goal lead late in the game.
But Dalic expects a different Argentina in the Lusail Stadium, saying: “The Netherlands comeback was a warning to them. I expect them to be better against us. We are up against one of the best football teams in history.”
Dalic, though, believes his team has set the benchmark for smaller nations on the grandest stage as Morocco prepare to take on France in the other semi-final.
He went on: “Everyone in life has a right to make dreams - the Croatian team four years ago made that dream a reality for small countries. We gave small countries the right to dream. Our example, our quality, led by example. And now you have Morocco, who have beaten Spain and Portugal - great teams.”
Argentina will be without full-backs Marcos Acuna and Gonzalo Montiel after they each picked up a second yellow card of the tournament in the bad-tempered clash with the Dutch.
In total, Argentina collected NINE bookings in that match but Dalic is hoping for a more sporting occasion on Tuesday night. He said: “The Argentina-Netherlands match was quite feisty, quite difficult - there were many non-football situations there. I hope this will not be the case.”
Croatia have won only one match at Qatar 2022 in normal time, drawing two of their group matches and beating Japan and Brazil on penalties in the knockout stages.
But Dalic is bullish about his side’s chances of reaching Sunday’s final. He said: “I am an optimist by nature, I trust my players, they have demonstrated a high-level of quality and strength of character as we would not have made it to the semi-finals without that. We will not change the way we play. My pride has no limits, the sky's the limit.”
