Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic admitted his aspect was lucky that Belgium missed a number of probabilities within the goalless draw on Thursday that despatched the 2018 runner-up into the FIFA World Cup knockout part.
The Croatians held on for the purpose they wanted to progress from Group F behind Morocco as Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku handed up a number of golden alternatives to place them out late on.
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“I expected a difficult match against Belgium. Belgium cannot play three bad matches in a row,” Dalic stated within the post-match press convention.
“They had some chances against us but it didn’t change our mindset… We were lucky they didn’t take their chances.”
Croatia will face Japan for a quarter-final spot on the Al Janoub Stadium on December 5.
“It was a tough game to play, but that’s football,” Dalic added. “The most important thing for us is to recover, we are tired.”
RB Leipzig centre-back Josko Gvardiol, enjoying in a protecting face masks, made a number of essential interventions as Croatia clung on — and earned excessive reward from his coach.
“Gvardiol is the best defender in the world. He is only 20 so if he’s not already the number one, he will become the number one,” stated Dalic.
Croatia nonetheless has an opportunity to duplicate their run to the ultimate on the 2018 World Cup in Russia the place captain Luka Modric was named participant of the match regardless of his aspect shedding to France within the last.
“We are overjoyed that we are in the round of 16,” Modric stated.
“We deserved that with the game we played. We lived through some very difficult moments as we were playing against a great team.
“We have achieved the first goal, now let’s move on. Today we showed that we are a top team, that we can play against anyone, and whoever comes next, it will not be easy against us.”