Croatia coach not fooled by Belgium's woes

AL RAYYAN, Qatar : Rumours of Belgium's demise are greatly exaggerated, Croatia's head coach Zlatko Dalic said as he prepares his side for Thursday's decisive Group F showdown.

Croatia, who beat Belgium in the 2018 semi-finals, need just a point to guarantee progress to the last 16 while FIFA second-ranked side Belgium almost certainly need to win.

A shock 2-0 defeat by Morocco on Sunday was followed by talk of rifts in the Belgium camp, with playmaker Kevin de Bruyne and defender Jan Vertonghen reportedly at loggerheads.

De Bruyne was also reported to have said that Belgium's so-called Golden Generation is now too old to win the World Cup, but Dalic was having none of it when asked on Wednesday.

"We are playing against the second-best football team in the world and they were number one," he told reporters.

"They are a great team and if we could choose we would not have selected this match to be the decisive one.

"We will not fool ourselves by their under-performance in the last two games."

Croatia drew with Tunisia in their opener but hit top form in a 4-1 defeat of Canada, leaving them in good shape going in to the clash at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium.

Dalic has ruled out any notion that Croatia would be happy to play for a draw.

"We will play as we did against Canada, high quality, high tempo. It's going to be a difficult game," he said.

"Belgium are a top team, they have De Bruyne and Hazard and we will not be fooled by media stories and some rumours. We are expecting the best of Belgium, a top-notch national team.

"They haven't become a bad football players overnight. I am not focussed on any other aspects, we are just focussed on their strength and quality."

Belgium have so far been without their powerhouse striker Romelu Lukaku