Croatia coach Dalic says Brazil World Cup squad ‘scary’

Croatia’s coach #00 Zlatko Dalic shouts instructions to his players from the touchline during the Qatar 2022 World Cup round of 16 football match between Japan and Croatia at the Al-Janoub Stadium in Al-Wakrah, south of Doha on December 5, 2022. (Photo by Jewel SAMAD / AFP)

Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic called Brazil’s squad “scary” but says his team are not big underdogs in Friday’s quarter-final against the World Cup favourites.

Dalic’s side, runners-up at the 2018 World Cup, beat Japan on penalties on Monday to guarantee at least their third-best finish at the tournament.

The coach said on Tuesday he was proud of his team for showing the character and mentality to get this far in Qatar, but knows that Brazil will be a whole different proposition.

“Brazil has (over) 200 million people, we only have four million, so we’re a bit like the suburb of a city in Brazil,” Dalic said.

“It will be a different game than against anyone we have played so far because Brazil likes to play football.

“If we are looking at it realistically, Brazil is the best team at the tournament, they have a great choice of players, a great squad, it’s scary, so it’s a great test for us.”

Dalic said, “it doesn’t get better” than playing Brazil at a World Cup.

“Maybe we’d rather it was in the final than the quarter-final though,” he added.

“We want to give maximum effort — we won’t surrender before the game. We want to counter Brazil’s quality with our own and we want to play football against them.”

Croatia has refreshed their squad in the four years since the last World Cup, with only a handful of veterans remaining, including captain Luka Modric and winger Ivan Perisic.

Dalic said this generation should not be compared to the team beaten by France in the final in