Croatia coach, Zlatko Dalic has stated that since his team were able to stop Argentina captain, Lionel Messi and England captain, Harry Kane during the group and semi-final clash respectively at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, his players can also stop France forwards, Kyalian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann too when they clash in Sunday’s final.
Dalic’s men head into the World Cup final following a 2-1 victory over England on Wednesday night, while France beat Belgium 1-0 in Tuesday’s semi-final encounter.
The 51-year-old gaffer is confident that his players will be able to nullify the threats posed by Mbappe and Griezmann.
Speaking ahead of their final clash, Dalic boasted that his side can beat the Les Blues in the World Cup final, as they did same to Messi and Kane.
“Croatia can still play better,” Dalic told reporters at a pre-match conference ahead of Sunday’s World Cup final clash with France.
“France are a very dangerous team but if we stopped Messi, Eriksen, Kane… we can stop Mbappe and Griezmann too.”
He added, “I felt relieved after Southgate substituted Sterling because he is very hard to stop.”
“And I admired Southgate, he showed he’s a gentleman, a sportsman, he congratulated all of us individually on the pitch.”
“In the morning ahead of the England match, I had Rakitic with a fever of almost 39 (degrees).
“Ante Rebic said he couldn’t play and I told them only those who were 100% fit will play.
“But at our last meeting ahead of the match, they all said they were ready. And during the game, as I wanted to make substitutions, all of the players kept saying, ‘Not me, not me’.”
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